I reflect on my use of LLMs for coding, weighing concerns about training data, accuracy, energy use, and data leakage against the practical benefits. I describe trying GitHub Copilot, Codeium, and local models via Ollama, and settling on Codeium for code completion alongside web chatbots for code discussions. I also cover how AI has changed my practice, including writing clearer code, favoring well-established technologies, and adopting new libraries more readily...
I survey the rise of AI coding tools, from ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot to open source ecosystems, alongside skeptic concerns about training data, code quality, model collapse, and code exfiltration. I explain why these assistants suit my situation as an experienced developer new to modern languages, and trace my journey from paid Copilot to the free Codium and finally to running local models via Ollama and the Continue VSCode extension to keep client code private...
