Four Pitfalls of Over-Relying on AI When Coding

01 Dec 2025 #coding

I sit somewhere in the middle of the AI hype cycle. Not a hater nor a fanatic.

I’ve been trying to make sense of AI by documenting my experiences and reacting to others.

Here are 4 issues I’ve found with using AI too much:

#1. It makes us lazier than usual. It’s tempting to go straight to a chat for a quick, unreliable answer. That’s the real danger.

#2. It steals the joy of figuring out problems. No more aha moments or happy dances. Just like asking someone to chew our food to be more productive.

#3. It makes you feel you’re cheating. Copy-pasting without understanding has always been cheating, even in the days of forums and StackOverflow.

AI generated code you don’t understand is worse than technical debt. It’s cognitive debt.

#4. It doesn’t let you build mental models to solve problems. It’s like asking someone else to go to the gym for us, then wondering why our muscles are still weak.

To build future-proof coding skills, check out Street-Smart Coding, the roadmap with 30 lessons I wish I had on my coding journey.