Using AI as a tool like any other is fine. It’s the blind trust that it can do everything for you that is problematic (not to mention the fact people hide the fact that something “they created” is AI). Just like with any other computer system: garbage in, garbage out.

I sometimes use LLM's to help me troubleshoot. I usually don't ask for solutions, but rather "what is wrong here?" type stuff.

has often saved me hours of troubleshooting, but it is occasionally wrong and sees flaws where there is none.

LLMs are great at language. I often use them to generate syntax for a language I don't know and probably won't use again. While the short snippets may not do exactly what I want, I can edit a snippet fairly easily. Writing one with no knowledge of the language would take me far longer.

Just remember that being good at language is not the same as intelligence. LLMs are good at mimicking thought, but they cannot problem solve or optimise. You still have to do that bit.

I fully agree as a tool LLMs are amazing. Throw in a config file or code that you know 99% of what it should be, but can't find what's wrong... and I'd say there's a good 70% chance it will find it... maybe chasing down one or 2 red herrings before it solves it.

The bad rap of course is simply the 2 main factors.

1. idiots that use it to do the entire coding, and thus wind up with something they themselves don't have even the basic understanding of how it goes together, so they can't spot when it does something horrifically wrong.

2. The overall reality that, no matter how you slice it, it costs an absurd amount to run these things. so.. while the AI companies are letting us use these things for free or off really cheap plans, it's actually costing real money to process, and realistically there's no sign of it reaching a point where there's actually a fair trade of value...

The right tool for the right job... LLMs can't do a lot, and can make a lot of things worse when misapplied, but that doesn't mean the technology is wholly useless.

AI is best used for prompting and troubleshooting when it comes to code works, imo. It can give ideas, find a small bug, or just help get it of a corner. I never use the code generated but instead at least type out what I do want to use, both so I'm sure I know what it's doing, and to not atrophy my skills.