The Real Reason Why Some Dev Companies Are Forcing AI
15 Oct 2025 #miscI haven’t stumbled upon any client or company forcing me to use AI.
That’s not a reality for everybody in the industry. Today I found this Reddit post from a coder who has lost interest after being forced to use AI, even he was tracked:
“Within the span of maybe 2 months my corporate job went from “I’ll be here for life” to “Time to switch careers?” Some exec somewhere in the company decided everyone needs to be talking to AI, and they track how often you’re talking with it. I ended up on a naughty list for the first time in my career, despite never having performance issues. I explain to my manager and his response is to just ask it meaningless questions.”
That post rang a bell! It reminded me of a conversation I had recently.
The real driver isn’t productivity
These days, I caught-up with some of my ex-coworkers, and one story stood up.
After the usual chit-chat, one of them shared that his company was encouraging them to use AI, not so strong like the guy from Reddit. Maybe productivity was the official reason.
But the real reason? Turns out, one of the company founders was also investing in an AI startup. And guess which AI tool they were encouraging people to use.
Just like I found the other day, if you think of AI as just another subscription company pushed for profit, all the hype starts to make more sense.
The real driver isn’t productivity, but financial interest.
It’s easy to get caught up in the AI hype and forget coding is more than shipping crappy lines of code fast.
But coding is also about clear communication, thoughtful problem-solving, and knowing when to say no. None of that shows up in AI usage metrics.
And that’s why wrote, Street-Smart Coding: 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding, to share the skills I wish I’d learned earlier, the ones that help you become a confident, hype-proof coder.