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AI is making me dumb

jpain.io

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191–200 of 328 posts

Re: AI is making me dumb

#191

Post by RandallBrown »

thisisthenewme wrote: post #126

As a developer, I kind of feel like this all smells like job security. After using LLMs for a while, I have to admit it's pretty nice, and I like using it. I've been vibecoding a few apps, and it's a good dopamine hit to immediately see your ideas come to life. However, based on my experience, it will bite you if you trust it blindly. Even in my vibecoded projects, it keeps adding "features" without me asking for the…

> Eventually, there will be a lot of bugs, and developers will complain that we need additional human resources

I just hope I can last that long.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#192

Post by switchbak »

singpolyma3 wrote: post #189

I don't understand how one even uses "AI to write". Writing is the act of taking something that's been burning in my head for a time and emitting it for others. The LLM doesn't know what's in my head and therefore cannot write it...

I use LLMs all day long, but I don't understand why I would use it to write out my thoughts for me?

I'm not the world's best writer by any means, and rather self-critical in general, but even I don't have the compulsion to have an AI rework my thoughts for public consumption. Perhaps for a set of slides or a big README, but not for one-off ideas and communication. In fact, I quite resent when someone sends me some AI generated psuedo-thoughts that are clearly not their own and devoid of the real context.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#195

Post by switchbak »

jasonjei wrote: post #74

I’m not using AI to eliminate thinking but to free me from the rote mundane code writing. AI is perfectly competent at writing code once a prototype is implemented. I do write initial proof of concept crude prototypes (not commented, hardcoded variables, etc), and AI does the productionizing of them. It has really allowed me to command a team of agents instead of keeping track of a bunch of humans of varying work eth…

"AI is perfectly competent at writing code once a prototype is implemented" ... perfectly? I mean, it's certainly far from perfect - this is where I spend most of my day, in fixing the imperfections of the code generating robot.

Granted I'm not polishing up a prototype, I'm maintaining, evolving and modernizing a non-trivial 8+ year old product.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#196

Post by krackers »

comrade1234 wrote: post #22

For my current project I'm coding every day in Java, ruby, and JavaScript. I waste a lot of tokens doing what used to be simple google searches for language differences since I mix up things like the null-safe operator ruby vs jscript or what is the continue/break statement in ruby vs java. I think Claude is probably very disappointed in me that the most complicated thing I use it for is refactoring old Java loops to…

> which can be unwritable for a human

Unfortunate, those types of refactorings are my favorite, since they're tightly scoped, easy to verify correctness, and it's like a little puzzle. Bonus points if you write your own collector or use some more obscure parts of the stdlib.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#197

Post by switchbak »

lacedeconstruct wrote: post #83
syl5x wrote: post #55

I feel that few will have the privilege to have the time to write code by hand. And let's actually see what we are actually writing, most of the time for me its nothing novel, nothing fancy its the same old create a backend for X, fix some simple bug and stuff that are trivial for a mid-senior programmer. The harder tasks are mostly (again for us) architectural decision over the code and I am even thinking of how we…

It was a never a velocity problem though, rapid progress comes mainly from designing better systems and building tight abstractions not by writing using the same primitives faster

I can't agree more strongly. I've seen folks flail at very high velocity, I've even done it myself. It's a thinking profession, not a typing one. Making the right choices at the right time can save you months or years (or cost you that).

The people that don't value good design will absolutely have a lot more rope from which to hang themselves.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#198

Post by mcv »

To me it really depends on how I'm using it. Sometimes it makes me feel smart, I'm solving problems I wouldn't have been able to solve before, and I'm learning a lot. And sometimes it feels like I've outsourced my thinking and I can just feel myself getting dumber and losing control over the project.

I think it's vital that you keep strict control, and really try to understand what the AI is doing. And especially when you're doing something really complex, even Claude Opus can get lost or lose track of the context, and you need to be paying attention when that happens.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#199

Post by operatorius »

pmg101 wrote: post #125
lacedeconstruct wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a never a velocity problem though, rapid progress comes mainly from designing better systems and building tight abstractions not by writing using the same primitives faster

That certainly used to be the case. Do you think that in 2026 maybe rapid progress can also come from using the same primitives faster? I'm still figuring this out but I'm certainly open to the possibility.

Managing cognitive load was cool before managing context window has become the thing.

Same techniques for both - the right abstractions, the right app architecture choices and layering.

Re: AI is making me dumb

#200

Post by dwaltrip »

raincole wrote: post #64

> I just caught myself about to copy and paste it into Claude to see what it thinks because I'm worried that it doesn't make sense or it reads funny or there's something missing I unironically believe this is a very good habit. When it comes to writing, instead of starting with AI, finish a chapter by hand first then ask AI to review it strikes the best balance.

You may be right in many cases.

But I think the author was commenting on how it felt like a compulsive urge stemming from fear and self-doubt.

It’s a good insight about their frame of mind, and I applaud them for resisting the urge.

You need to do things the hard way by yourself in order to learn.

Reflexively copy + pasting into chatgpt is a good way to become completely dependent on the tool and have your skills atrophy.

It reminds me of people who can hardly drive anywhere without GPS, even if they’ve been living in the same place for years.

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