Chat GPT is wonderful as a search engine for SO. It regurgitates the answers in a format easier to incorporate into your own project.
The thing I’m worried about is a lack of new answers. You need data to train an LLM, what to do if nobody is producing it?
I definitely bought a lot of things because of ads. Not directly though, I don’t go around clicking on online ads even if one slips through the blocker.
Just being exposed to the idea that some product exists is an ad. Reviews and comparisons. Seeing a brand name in the wild. A product being recommended by someone I consider an authority in that specific field.
It all provenly works on me.
And I don’t really regret it, how else would I even find out what exists? Go to the store and just buy whatever the seller recommends? Did people do that in the past before mass advertising?