Engineers say AI coding tools are eroding core development skills
AI tools are increasingly common in software development now, but engineers say it's coming at a cost.
Instead of writing code from scratch, many are just reviewing and fixing what AI spits out, making them feel less sharp.
One developer admitted, "I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API . . . and it scared the s**t out of me" and "it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code."
Another said using AI makes it harder to think through problems: "It's making me dumber . . . for sure, my ability to sit and reason about a problem or design has degraded, like mentally outsourcing 'thinking' in general, because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take."
Studies show AI hurts problem solving
Studies show that relying on AI can actually hurt your problem-solving skills.
Students who used generative AI for writing tasks performed worse than those who didn't.
Researchers warn that using too much automation might have some unexpected downsides for thinking.
Firms track AI use, developers pressured
With companies pushing more AI use, engineers worry their skills could fade.
Some firms are tracking or publicizing how much AI employees use, such as Meta's AI-token leaderboards, but many developers feel pressured to use these tools anyway.