Coding Agents Speed PhD Work But Ease Off-Track Drift
MIT professor and DeepMind researcher share observations on AI coding tools for juniors.
MIT associate professor Dylan Hadfield-Menell described watching PhD students and junior researchers adopt coding agents and tools. He noted these can dramatically increase velocity in their work. At the same time he pointed out that projects become much easier to veer far off track. Google DeepMind researcher Roma Patel shared the same comments. The statements highlight tradeoffs in productivity and direction when using AI assistance for academic research tasks.
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Coding Agents Speed PhD Work But Ease Off-Track Drift
MIT professor and DeepMind researcher share observations on AI coding tools for juniors.
MIT associate professor Dylan Hadfield-Menell described watching PhD students and junior researchers adopt coding agents and tools. He noted these can dramatically increase velocity in their work. At the same time he pointed out that projects become much easier to veer far off track. Google DeepMind researcher Roma Patel shared the same comments. The statements highlight tradeoffs in productivity and direction when using AI assistance for academic research tasks.
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2 postsDH 
Dylan HadfieldMenell@dhadfieldmenellIt’s been interesting watching PhD students and junior researchers start working with coding agents and tools. It’s clear it can dramatically increase velocity. On the other hand, it’s much easier for things to get far off track.
- likes: 175
- replies: 11
- bookmarks: 24
- reposts: 7
DH Dylan HadfieldMenell@dhadfieldmenellIt’s been interesting watching PhD students and junior researchers start working with coding agents and tools. It’s clear it can dramatically increase velocity. On the other hand, it’s much easier for things to get far off track.
- likes: 175
- replies: 11
- bookmarks: 24
- reposts: 7
