[Episode 5] A $100 Tuition Fee - The Labyrinth of "Fix and Break" Failures

I had published a service in 24 hours and was literally "on cloud nine." However, that magical development experience morphed into a terrifying "quagmire" at a certain moment.

The trigger was just a trivial obsession.

"Can I make the corners of this button a little rounder and the color softer?" "I want to fix the text of the diagnosis results overlapping slightly when viewed on a smartphone."

With such a light heart, I once again gave instructions to the AI (bolt.new).

However, inexplicable phenomena began to occur from here.

When I asked the AI to "Change the color of the button," the color certainly changed. But for some reason, the "Diagnosis Button" that had been working fine until now stopped responding, and the entire page layout suddenly collapsed.

"Eh, I didn't touch that part, why?"

Panicking, I gave further instructions. "Put it back!" "Fix the part that stopped working!"

However, my vague instructions, completely lacking an understanding of the code's structure, only made things worse. With every modification, the AI rewrote a massive amount of code, and in the process, another part would break... It was truly a chain of "destruction" rather than "repair."

And the price of that destruction all bounced back to my credit card.

Advanced AI development tools like bolt.new consume "credits (usage fees)" according to their processing power. Every time it rewrote the code entirely, my balance decreased at a furious speed.

"Insufficient credits."

The inorganic warning appearing on the screen. Telling myself, "I can't stop here," I pressed the button to add $100, justifying it to myself. However, a few hours later, that $100 was gone again.

"Another $100 today, and another $100..."

Ultimately, in a few days, I ended up paying a "tuition fee" that was far too expensive for a beginner starting a hobby.

At that moment, I finally woke up.

"I'm not using magic right now. I'm just paying money to bash a black box without knowing what's inside."

AI is a reassuring partner, but if you don't have a minimal understanding of "what you are building (what is where in the code)," you will be tossed around by the AI and lose control.

It is precisely because of this painful failure that I made the firm decision to graduate from "development entirely outsourced to AI" and take the first step towards becoming a true engineer: "writing code myself while conversing with AI on my own computer (local environment)."

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🍳 [Today's AI Development Recipe]

• Technical Difficulty: ⭐☆☆☆☆ (A shift in mindset)

This time, rather than how to use a tool, we will explain the "trap of the black box" that you must absolutely avoid in AI development.

1. What is a "Black Box"?

It is a state where you have absolutely no idea what processing is going on inside. It is convenient that AI magically creates a site for you, but trying to modify it without knowing "why it works" is a dangerous task, like trying to pull out a Jenga block while blindfolded.

2. How did I do it? (The reason for failure)

Without knowing the structure of the code, I gave the AI a very vague prompt: "Fix the part that stopped working!" As a result, the AI tried to rewrite the whole thing based on guesswork, destroying unnecessary parts. Furthermore, every time the AI rewrote, system usage fees (credits) were consumed, resulting in massive costs.

3. To Our Readers

AI is not an omnipotent god; it is an excellent "working assistant." Instead of outsourcing everything, please start by asking the AI itself to teach you "what is written where" in the code it created for you. That is the first step to keeping costs down and proceeding with development safely.

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Preview: Graduating from Magic. Building a "Base" to Stand on My Own Feet

Credits melting away in units of $100, and code that breaks every time I try to fix it. From this bitter failure, I give up on "black box development relying on AI."

What I needed to cut costs and improve my skills was not a place prepared by AI, but to build a "development base" inside my own computer.

"Local environment? VSCode? How do I set those up?" I just have to proceed while learning everything I don't know from Gemini.

Next time, [Episode 6] The Determination to Stand on My Own Feet. Building a "Local Development Environment" with Gemini. Look forward to it!