AI can make work faster, but a fear is that relying on it may make it harder to learn new skills on the job.
We ran an experiment with software engineers to learn more. Coding with AI led to a decrease in mastery—but this depended on how people used it.
https://t.co/lbxgP11I4I
i didn't think this would be a big deal or happen so fast
but i'm seeing teams nerf their own ability to use their brains because of llm dependence
and when they run into a problem the llm can't fix they start doing really weird stuff
What Claude Code has revealed is that most people either have mediocre ideas or no ideas at all. The tool is a force multiplier for those who already know what they want to build and how to think through it systematically; it elevates competence, rewards clarity, and accelerates execution for people who would have gotten there anyway, just slower. If you have a sharp vision and can break it into coherent steps, Claude Code becomes an extension of your own capability.
But there's another mode of use entirely. For people without that clarity, the appeal is precisely that the input can stay vague; you gesture at something, hit enter, and wait to see what comes out. This is structurally identical to a slot machine: low effort, variable reward, and that intermittent reinforcement loop that hooks the susceptible. So the same tool that elevates the focused and capable is also manufacturing a kind of gambling behavior in people prone to it.
@dabit3 To be far any good engineer could have built this in a couple hours without ai. The time to build is not their value prop here but I get your point how this lowers barrier for everyone
I’ll die on this hill:
Even on vacation, you and your team should still check in periodically.
2 minutes.
Quick peek at Slack.
Quick scan of Gmail.
Anything urgent? Handle it or route it.
If you completely disappear, you simply don’t care.
Tell me I’m wrong.