I asked myself this question after defeating a boss in a video game (The Last Faith, my favorite game rn), it's probably a weird question but it's relevant to this topic on AI trust me. To defeat this particular boss, I had to learn his pattern of attacks and anticipate his movements, this took a while for me to master (I didn't count but I probably spent more than 4 hours on it). When I finally defeated him, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment, like I actually did something, I defeated this super annoying boss on my own with no outside help and I can't remember the last time I felt this way when it comes to coding. It's almost as if my brain has taken a backseat these last few months, and AI (ChatGpt) has been doing all my thinking for me.

So why did I stop using my brain? Like what is the reason? What's the point of being a programmer/developer at all, if AI does all the work? What is the payoff of letting AI do all the work?

I don't even try to do anything on my own when I hit roadblocks while coding, I just prompt my way to a solution (which I can tell is usually over-engineered, but who cares it works am I right?). I'm starting to feel this 'habit' take its toll on my ability to think critically about difficult or even trivial tasks.

I think I'm suffering from AI fatigue, I don't feel anything anymore when I code, no frustrations, no excitement, no satisfaction. Because AI does all my thinking for me.

It'll probably be a while before I'm able to completely rid myself of AI in my everyday life, but I need to start doing something about this.