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395 points pseudolus | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.2s | source
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moojacob ◴[] No.43634527[source]
How can I, as a student, avoid hindering my learning with language models?

I use Claude, a lot. I’ll upload the slides and ask questions. I’ve talked to Claude for hours trying to break down a problem. I think I’m learning more. But what I think might not be what’s happening.

In one of my machine learning classes, cheating is a huge issue. People are using LMs to answer multiple choice questions on quizzes that are on the computer. The professors somehow found out students would close their laptops without submitting, go out into the hallway, and use a LM on their phone to answer the questions. I’ve been doing worse in the class and chalked it up to it being grad level, but now I think it’s the cheating.

I would never do cheat like that, but when I’m stuck and use Claude for a hint on the HW am I loosing neurons? The other day I used Claude to check my work on a graded HW question (breaking down a binary packet) and it caught an error. I did it on my own before and developed some intuition but would I have learned more if I submitted that and felt the pain of losing points?

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dwaltrip ◴[] No.43635194[source]
Only use LLMs for half of your work, at most. This will ensure you continue to solidify your fundamentals. It will also provide an ongoing reality check.

I’d also have sessions / days where I don’t use AI at all.

Use it or lose it. Your brain, your ability to persevere through hard problems, and so on.

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1. rglynn ◴[] No.43650567[source]
I definitely catch myself reaching for the LLM because thinking is too much effort. It's quite a scary moment for someone who prides themself on their ability to think.