--- title: A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? My Thoughts description: A software engineer shares their experience losing access to AI coding tools for a week and realizing how dependent they had become on them. After initially... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/2oqqzn7yu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? My Thoughts | daily.dev og:description: A software engineer shares their experience losing access to AI coding tools for a week and realizing how dependent they had become on them. After initially... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/2oqqzn7yu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2oQQZN7yU.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? My Thoughts **[Sumonta Saha \(Mridul\)](https://daily.dev/sources/oy53egvldsfhhkhkvd69g)** · [@sumonta056](https://daily.dev/sumonta056) · 222 upvotes · 50 comments ## Summary A software engineer shares their experience losing access to AI coding tools for a week and realizing how dependent they had become on them. After initially panicking, they returned to traditional coding methods and discovered that over-reliance on AI can hinder genuine learning and problem-solving skills. The experience highlighted the importance of understanding code fundamentally rather than just using AI-generated solutions, with research showing developers using AI feel more productive but may actually be slower. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 30 upvotes > Nothing. I learned it the hard way, taught myself everything and even dove into new and very poorly documented programming languages and still ended up fine. If you kill AI today, the only thing, that will change, is me not taking the time to write elaborate scripts for really small benefits, as I don't have time to do that manually, but I would let AI do that for me, since that would be quick and efficient enough. **@fabooy961** · 10 upvotes > Mother nature wrote a law "Hooman save energy"... AI is heavily supporting this, so you get lazy as fork yo! > > Since we know the name of the demon, it's up to every individual to get out of their comfort zone and keep up. The same way you hit the gym! > > The question for me is, how to set proper borders in a steady evolving environment where pain and joy are starting to mix? > >  **@zvjeverica3** · 7 upvotes > General rule of thumb I use is: if I'd delegate it to a junior (someone less experienced than me) - I can use AI to do it. If it's something I'd consult a senior (someone more experienced) for - don't use AI for it (or use it only for asking questions together with proper research). This means I only use AI for things I already know how to do, but I want to speed it up, and I'll be able to review it properly. **@victormoni** · 6 upvotes > AI helps a lot — we become more productive and learn so much from it too. > But we shouldn’t become dependent on AI. > > In coding, for example, we should first understand the problem ourselves. > That way, we can create better prompts or even build the solution on our own. > > AI is here to help us, not to replace us or make us dependent. 💡 **@yannick1** · 3 upvotes > You can compare this to GPS: if you use it all the time, it will become quite difficult to drive without it. Your brain will have lost the ability to navigate. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/2oqqzn7yu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oqqzn7yu","headline":"A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? 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I learned it the hard way, taught myself everything and even dove into new and very poorly documented programming languages and still ended up fine. If you kill AI today, the only thing, that will change, is me not taking the time to write elaborate scripts for really small benefits, as I don’t have time to do that manually, but I would let AI do that for me, since that would be quick and efficient enough.","datePublished":"2025-10-13T21:38:14.319Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oQQZN7yU#c-Uvzfam8Ow","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":30}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Mother nature wrote a law “Hooman save energy”… AI is heavily supporting this, so you get lazy as fork yo!\nSince we know the name of the demon, it’s up to every individual to get out of their comfort zone and keep up. The same way you hit the gym!\nThe question for me is, how to set proper borders in a steady evolving environment where pain and joy are starting to mix?","datePublished":"2025-10-19T17:26:28.321Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oQQZN7yU#c-GmRPC20EK","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Le Fä De Le Lö","url":"https://daily.dev/fabooy961","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/v1677218265/avatars/avatar_H6lLM2y9S4Yf8VCWicpd8.jpg"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"General rule of thumb I use is: if I’d delegate it to a junior (someone less experienced than me) - I can use AI to do it. If it’s something I’d consult a senior (someone more experienced) for - don’t use AI for it (or use it only for asking questions together with proper research). This means I only use AI for things I already know how to do, but I want to speed it up, and I’ll be able to review it properly.","datePublished":"2025-10-21T07:26:00.358Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oQQZN7yU#c-ipq2hujb0","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ana","url":"https://daily.dev/zvjeverica3","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKUV8mlCuErBqMH5cuupkRpVn7rFOCUeNQT5X-_C5q05BhC=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"AI helps a lot — we become more productive and learn so much from it too.\nBut we shouldn’t become dependent on AI.\nIn coding, for example, we should first understand the problem ourselves.\nThat way, we can create better prompts or even build the solution on our own.\nAI is here to help us, not to replace us or make us dependent. 💡","datePublished":"2025-10-19T21:24:20.570Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oQQZN7yU#c-qrobmOiwB","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Moni","url":"https://daily.dev/victormoni","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--72Wi69ZE--/f_auto/v1784758172/avatars/avatar_sIZQvrf20yqY9CA4XcUjD?_a=BAMAMicg0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":6}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"You can compare this to GPS: if you use it all the time, it will become quite difficult to drive without it. Your brain will have lost the ability to navigate.","datePublished":"2025-10-21T11:33:20.034Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2oQQZN7yU#c-xHYdzN2TP","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Yannick","url":"https://daily.dev/yannick1","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/AAcHTteT02CeYvAQJRdhGiCxRnW51Jeb6aR80_8ms_dnV7NtqQ=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/oy53egvldsfhhkhkvd69g","name":"Sumonta Saha (Mridul)"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sumonta Saha (Mridul)","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/oy53egvldsfhhkhkvd69g"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? My Thoughts"}]} ```