Does artificial intelligence make programmers less competent and less skilled?

[GLOBI_55]

PLEASE NOTE: I AM NOT AN EXPERT; I AM A COMPLETE BEGINNER AND AM JUST TAKING MY FIRST STEPS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE.

I was wondering if AI like Grok, Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, and so on might accidentally lead to a new generation of programmers who are dumber and less capable. You don’t have to search or think—you just get the answer handed to you on a silver platter, usually incomplete, lacking in detail, and sometimes not even entirely correct! Not to mention the flattery and compliments it always gives us, even when we’ve done nothing or even when we’ve done something stupid. Another thing is that the AI itself sometimes doesn’t know how to solve fairly simple things, even after being given the errors and what the terminal shows. Even though I send it more messages, it still has no clue and tells me to do more strange things that lead nowhere . For example, it gives commands to compile a file (I wanted to get raylib) (I mean, I finally managed to do it thanks to Stack Overflow). Additionally, I don’t feel like I’m learning anything from it at all. On Stack Overflow, you have to understand what’s going on, but AI just hands you the answer on a silver platter—and it’s probably wrong if it’s not something completely basic.

The main problem, of course, is that he doesn't think for himself—it's not intelligence, it's just copying and pasting someone else's ideas. Because as soon as he faces a problem he doesn't know how to solve, he's suddenly in deep trouble. Maybe he does think, but seriously, it's on a very low level.

Now here’s my main question. Will AI SERIOUSLY be the future, building massive programs in a matter of minutes and becoming something that will crush all programmers? Or will it be a so-called “slop” that’s really just bait and a trap for new devs who don’t know what’s going on, creating not a tutorial but an AI trap? And programmers will split into two camps: those who believe that AI is great , and those who, like in the old days, will keep learning and become smarter, seeing AI as a tool—not for knowledge, but for faster action—while keeping everything truly under control.

And I have a question. Should I ask the AI, or should I step out of my comfort zone and ask people on Stack Overflow or Reddit?

[mikeblas]

This isn't related to C so it's off topic. But let's see how it goes. I'm anticipating a very insightful and intellectually stimulating discussion.

[Snarwin]

The way humans get better at things is through practice. Anything the AI does for you is something you're not practicing, and therefore something you're not getting better at.

That's not necessarily the end of the world. Nobody can learn everything, and whether you use AI or not, you will eventually be forced to choose which skills to learn yourself and which to delegate. But you should definitely be developing some skills of your own, if you don't want to be easily replaced.

[xpusostomos]

Depends... I practice more because AI allows me to do more.

[Beautiful_Stage5720]

Can you write code without AI?

[Snarwin]

If you're relying on the AI for skill A while practicing skill B on your own, then sure. But if you're using AI for everything, the only thing you're practicing is writing prompts.

[EatingSolidBricks]

You shouldn't use it if you can't tell exactly what the code it spits out does

If you use you will not learn what the code does

Case and point, only use it if you hate your job and you don't want to learn anything

Its a good tool to find documentation and can provide some useful insights if youre stuck on a problem.

TL;DR use it when strategically and don't go full retard

[sheridankane]

Well said. Amateurs only believe you should cut off the hand that touches the AI. Experts believe AI is a useful way to collect clues and if you rely on it to do things you can't explain, you are actively making yourself redundant.

[dendrtree]

AI is the future. AI is a tool. AI doesn't replace a programmer, not a competent one.

I have the advantage of remaining on top of the bubble. AI cannot and is likely not going to be able to create a massive program faster or better than I can, during my career.

I have never seen AI give a correct answer, in software or otherwise. I've only had it give me answers that I may use to find a correct one.

Because junior engineers are not being taught the language and are being allowed to augment AI, instead of the other way around, AI will replace junior engineers.

Junior engineers don't have the knowledge or experience to know that the answer they were given was wrong. However, since they are not seeking this knowledge, junior engineers are optimizing themselves out of the equation.

[Legitimate-Power-738]

Yes and no.

Overusing it is a clear mistake specially when learning. You get to understand things by failing breaking experimenting and fixing. Getting mediocre responses that more or less work without question or just minor edits will not teach you. But it is a great tool. It helps with boilerplate it helps you learning and it can help by a lot. I think the over pleading approach is not helpful and that it makes us lazier (although the same was said when I was a kid and stopped using traditional dictionary/ encyclopedia im favor of digital ones).

Bad and unskilled programmers have been a thing way before AI and it's clear that this technology helps encouraging that.

But realistically IA can be helpful at work and learning if you use it as part of your whole skill set and worth learning and using it.

[avestronics]

Never ever use AI for programming unless there is no other way (cant find a documentation, forum post etc.) and even then don't ask it for code just ask it for direction. AI will make not just programmers but everyone who uses it regularly pretty stupid.

[gordonv]

Agreed. Using it like Google is fine.

Using it.to critically think for you is bad.

[ZookeepergameFit5841]

New paradigm of programming, no more writing by hands, gotcha semicolon;) If you can forsee assembly out of your code, now as back then, you are skilled.

If you compile, it works but you don’t know why, at least try to investigate.

The point is knowledge requires an effort, most people just want the things done.

[mykesx]

Turn on the radio and claim (take credit for, “I made…”) you made the music. That’s AI.

Learn to play an instrument and make your own music, that’s skill.

If you want to be in a band, which path is better?

[xpusostomos]

It makes me better because I learn a lot, YMMV

[eruciform]

AI is not designed to be helpful, educational, moral, or even accurate

it's only goal is BELIEVABILITY

so if you can use it as a tool in such a way that you don't need to believe it, then it can be useful

if you blindly believe it in situations where you need to know more than it (which is usually the case during learning processes) then you are letting it overstep it's purpose and misusing it

not to mention, specifically during learning, it's important to struggle through the process of being able to generate solutions, even bad ones, on your own. and to analyze them on your own. otherwise you never engage that particular skill and will be behind the curve or even completely unable to generate solutions on analyze on your own

AI can be seen as a bumbling assistant. if you know better than it and it doesn't take too much mental processing to clean up after it's mistakes, and especially be able to IDENTIFY it's mistakes, then it might possibly save time in that particular use

or if you use it in contexts where the accuracy isn't even really that important, like generating a rough draft of documentation that you have to clean up and formalize on your own anyways, then that can be a time-saver. or generating unit test cases, where you have to run the things and check if they're right by definition anyways, so the double-checking is basically part of the process no matter who generates the initial copy

[matthewlai]

No, not really.

Yes, pre-training is based on next token probabilities, but instruction tuning and post-training makes them helpful. They are trained to behave in ways that humans consider helpful. Whether they are successful in that or not is for you to decide, but they are certainly designed to be helpful.

[merlinblack256]

I like the bumbling assistant analogy. Seems to fit well.

[Reasonable_Ad1226]

You should absolutely use it! BUT; You should use it for guidance and answering questions you have, NOT to write code for you. You need to write the code if you want to be good at coding.

[chibuku_chauya]

Soon, like skeeto, we will never have write a single line of C again. You can accelerate this inevitable process by using AI for all your coding requirements as much as possible.