LLMs bring skill atrophy to programmers
When you use LLMs for code assistance, you will start relinquishing tasks to this assistance. This can take the form of generating tests, finding bugs, vibe coding features or even just bypassing reading documentation.
When you let the AI handle these tasks, those skills will wither without exercise. There should be a clear distinction on how dependant you want to become on this new technology.
Of course, it could be that these skills are not necessary any more and become obsolete.
Reference
AI is Creating a Generation of Illiterate Programmers
Highlights or timestamps
First, I stopped reading documentation. Why bother when AI could explain things instantly?
— Documentation from AI is Creating a Generation of Illiterate Programmers highlights
Then, my debugging skills took the hit. Stack traces now feel unapproachable without AI. I don’t even read error messages anymore, I just copy and paste them.
— Debugging from AI is Creating a Generation of Illiterate Programmers highlights
We’re becoming 10x dependent on AI. There’s a difference.
— Dependent from AI is Creating a Generation of Illiterate Programmers highlights
We’re creating a generation of developers who can ask AI the right questions but can’t understand the answers.
— Asking questions from AI is Creating a Generation of Illiterate Programmers highlights