This session is part of the 2025-2026 Generative AI tutorial series hosted by the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS)About: In this hands-on tutorial, we will demonstrate how to (and how not to) use GenAI tools like GPT for writing, debugging, and documenting research code. We will focus on features such as predictive code completion, code explanation, and various AI chat and agent features available in VS Code with GitHub Copilot. We will cover some hands-on exercises for particularly good use cases of AI assistance, including documentation and unit test cases, as well as accessing GitHub Copilot during your coding sessions on the Great Lakes Cluster.