This month’s TSQL Tuesday invite is from my good friend, long standing MVP and community volunteer Taiob Ali – Taiob’s call is to blog on how AI, (the biggest invention since the internet, according to some) is changing our careers.
The place I work is passionate about AI adoption. We are exploring many tools in that regard. I may not be able to share details of exact usage for privacy reasons. These are my personal experiences.
How I use it personally
I have not played with many AI tools. I use a paid version of ChatGPT, which I find helpful for the following reasons.
1 To generate small amounts of test data for demo and other reasons. It is very good at this – especially if I can provide table(s) and ask it to generate Insert statements.
2 To review my blog post and ask for suggestions on English, or if it matches the tone I have in mind.
3 For occasional art generation – such as some thank you card logos for events like SQL Saturday. I have had some experiences there that I can blog about separately.
4 For simplifying complex text in research papers – I must read a lot of research papers for school, and sometimes the language is too hard for me to follow. So, I ask for help with one paragraph at a time. It is not capable of condensing all of it. By the way, it gets worse with more data, and it has little memory for what you asked earlier. Even with these limitations, it can be helpful.
5 For assistance with R Programming. Maybe because R is an open-source product, the help you can get is fantastic and saves you hours. I do not cut and paste any code; I ask it specific questions like ‘how do I increase font on legend with this scatterplot’.
My experience so far is that it is another tool in my toolkit. While I have not had transformative experiences yet, it has proven to be helpful in my daily work. I also have thoughts on ethical challenges and concerns with mental health that it causes. Some of the links that I have found helpful in that regard are below.
Resources that I recommend.
Harvard neuroscientist Dr Srini Pillay’s interview on balanced usage of AI, with warnings on the impact on the brain if used too much. This is not a pro or anti AI talk – it is very pragmatic and eye-opening on how much and why we need to use these tools. Dr Pillay explains how to find balance in the confusing world we are in by using AI appropriately and paving the way for healthy, innovative outcomes.
A research study shared by my colleague Mark Wilkinson found that AI does not necessarily improve productivity among programmers. This study is based on a small sample of programmers and has interesting findings related to higher productivity.
Stack Overflow 2025 survey results related to AI – of particular interest is the # of people using it at work, challenges with trust, AI tools versus AI agent usage. Also has a dataset we can use to explore further – the largest dataset of developer opinions available.
Long-time SQL Server MVP and data scientist Kevin Feasel, who is my go-to guy for all things data science related, wisely pointed out that Generative AI is hardly the only form of AI. It is easy to forget this critical fact, given that the term AI is used to refer to just generative AI these days. Here is a blog post teaching us about other forms of AI.
Ethical considerations
Last but hardly least, there are lots of ethical issues surrounding AI. My humble research using Stack Overflow data from last year (still a work in progress) is here.
I follow an Australian researcher named Kate Crawford, who has written a fantastic book called ‘Atlas of AI’. She highlights what goes into AI in the form of environmental resources, cheap labor, and many other factors. She also has many talks on YouTube that are worth listening to.
Data Platform MVP and longtime volunteer/mentor Eugene Meidinger has a great post on AI Ethics about Power BI. I loved one of his quotes – to always paste ‘into’ it and not ‘out of ‘it.
Conclusion
All of this said, AI is a game-changer, like it or not. There are basically two strong stances about its future – one that thinks it will die down, if not go away, because of how much garbage goes into it over time, and the second that says it will pave the way for a new future. Most of us are, safe to say, in the middle and confused about where we are going to land with it. My own stance – use it limitedly, stay informed and rely on educated resources, be open to possibilities, and stay grounded in your ethical stances.
Thank you Taiob, for hosting.