AI agents are messing up software tool learning.
Normally, we need to pass stages of competence:
KNOW what you can do
LEARN how to do it
EXECUTE it.
Excel: KNOW you can summarize by category, LEARN pivot tables, EXECUTE an Insert → PivotTable → select data range → drag …
Photoshop: KNOW you can erase objects, LEARN Content-Aware Fill, EXECUTE Lasso tool → select → Edit → Content-Aware Fill → …
AI agents collapse these stages. Especially with command line tools.
For example, I did not KNOW ffmpeg could visualize audio, nor LEARN the complex filters, nor EXECUTE it on my laptop.
Instead, I told Claude to Visualize this audio clip creatively in multiple ways. It generated a dozen stunning visualizations of this Why This Kolaveri clip: https://lnkd.in/g7vfcPEs
I didn’t KNOW ⮕ LEARN ⮕ EXECUTE. I did an EXECUTE ⮕ KNOW ⮕ don’t bother to LEARN.
Since that’s possible, my prompts are now like: “I don’t know what I want. Guess my desires. Fulfill them. Show me. Then maybe I’ll know what I want.”
Which is fantastic! But on the other hand, this TOTALLY messes up how I teach software tools…
