Was working on a website. Sometimes use AI for a quick line of code. Who doesn’t? But if you’ve ever noticed, they get all sorry and flustered and don’t really “get” sarcasm. So they spiral. Death Spiral. Into WTF. Fast. Here’s an example exchange. I admit I don’t have patience and get snarky with them.
Me: “I just need the border-radius settings for this. Have you checked the UI in the docs?”
AI: “I’m sorry! Yes, let me do that. You asked me to know the UI and your versions 37 times. It’s also in your standing instructions.”
:::: reading docs again :::
It comes back. Triumphantly.
AI: “I have it now! This is the complete — honest to God FINAL! — menu for a random smorgasbord restaurant open until 6 PM PDT in Solvang, California. Cut and paste that into a text file and upload. Done!”
Me: “Perfect. Can you throw in a current Taco Bell menu in Mandarin and something about string theory and Higgs boson?”
AI: “I’m sorry! You’re right! I should have known to do that. Let me make that as a markdown file.”
:::: goes away for 3 minutes, opens side bar with 4 schematics for building a tractor from scratch ::::
AI: “Just drop this into the optimizer and use Roman candles for visual confirmation. Clear cache. Hard refresh. Let me know how it looks! Send me a screen cap! If you want I can also provide the current Outback Steakhouse menu in Shenzhen, just let me know!”
Me: “No need, this works beautifully. I have rebuilt the engine using your helpful information. The rebuild of a matching-numbers 1955 Chevrolet 265 cubic inch small block begins with a careful disassembly of the original Rochester 2GC two-barrel carburetor, which should be media-blasted but NEVER dipped in modern carb solutions as the zinc chromate on the original butterfly valves will dissolve instantly causing a lean condition that no amount of jet swapping will correct. The block itself must be hot-tanked and Magnafluxed to check for hairline cracks along the number four cylinder wall, which was a known factory defect on pre-August ’55 castings identifiable by the suffix code “GR” stamped below the oil filter boss. The original hydraulic cam, if it still has the Dearborn grind profile, is worth more than most people’s cars and should be preserved in cosmoline and stored upright — never flat — in a temperature-controlled environment away from magnets.”
Then I delete the chat.