--- title: AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills... description: A synthesis of research studies examines how AI assistance boosts short-term productivity while potentially eroding learning, independent judgment, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-can-make-us-faster-while-quietly-weakening-the-skills-we-stop-practicing-i-reviewed-the-research-0nldkhesc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills we stop practicing. I reviewed the research on productivity, learning, creativity, jobs, and programming. https://blog.jenuel.dev/blog/ai-is-making-us-more-capable-is-it-making-us-less-capable-too | daily.dev og:description: A synthesis of research studies examines how AI assistance boosts short-term productivity while potentially eroding learning, independent judgment, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-can-make-us-faster-while-quietly-weakening-the-skills-we-stop-practicing-i-reviewed-the-research-0nldkhesc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/0NldkHeSc.png og:image:alt: AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills we stop practicing. I reviewed the research on productivity, learning, creativity, jobs, and programming. https://blog.jenuel.dev/blog/ai-is-making-us-more-capable-is-it-making-us-less-capable-too 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. # AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills we stop practicing. I reviewed the research on productivity, learning, creativity, jobs, and programming. https://blog.jenuel.dev/blog/ai-is-making-us-more-capable-is-it-making-us-less-capable-too **[Jenuel Oras Ganawed](https://daily.dev/sources/jjtzr4sjm)** · [@jenueldev](https://daily.dev/jenueldev) · 36 upvotes · 8 comments ## Summary A synthesis of research studies examines how AI assistance boosts short-term productivity while potentially eroding learning, independent judgment, and entry-level skill formation. Citing controlled experiments across writing, customer support, education, and software development (including METR's finding that experienced developers were 19% slower with AI tools, and studies showing reduced learning retention and less secure code), the piece argues that AI lowers the cost of producing answers but not the cost of understanding consequences. It closes with practical recommendations for using AI without atrophying core skills, such as separating learning mode from production mode and protecting apprenticeship structures for junior workers. ## 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. **@tonyd** · 9 upvotes > The article's biggest worry is that we become more productive while losing track of what we no longer understand. That's a fair concern, but I think it depends on how AI is used. If my goal is a good product and I get there by directing AI through the development instead of working out every detail myself, I haven't lost much. It's the same reason I don't need assembly language because a compiler handles it, or don't need to add 2+2 by hand when a calculator does it, as long as I understand the underlying concepts. The comparison has limits, though. A compiler or calculator is precise and... **@rgodiyal** · 7 upvotes > @jenueldev That's true, and the entire developer community is facing this issue, especially freshers. **@yaireo** · 6 upvotes > You don't need these capabilities at all! they are very temporary ones. humanity will not need programming at all, it's a whole concept you simply can throw away once AI is available. **@niforos** · 5 upvotes > learning is a skill. It just take an effort to do so. > > Like when i was in my school days. You have books but if you don't open them and read them, you don't learn anything, if you don't listen to your teacher, you don't learn too. **@rappayne** · 2 upvotes > AIs literally making us dumber. Literally. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Governing Security in the Age of Infinite Signal](https://daily.dev/posts/governing-security-in-the-age-of-infinite-signal-qhihbir44) · Snyk · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [No one has a good plan for how AI companies should work with the government](https://daily.dev/posts/no-one-has-a-good-plan-for-how-ai-companies-should-work-with-the-government-nkajqoze1) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#future-of-work](https://daily.dev/tags/future-of-work) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-can-make-us-faster-while-quietly-weakening-the-skills-we-stop-practicing-i-reviewed-the-research-0nldkhesc) ```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/ai-can-make-us-faster-while-quietly-weakening-the-skills-we-stop-practicing-i-reviewed-the-research-0nldkhesc","headline":"AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills we stop practicing. I reviewed the research on productivity, learning, creativity, jobs, and programming. https://blog.jenuel.dev/blog/ai-is-making-us-more-capable-is-it-making-us-less-capable-too","text":"Shared: AI Is Making Us More Capable. Is It Making Us Less Capable Too?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-can-make-us-faster-while-quietly-weakening-the-skills-we-stop-practicing-i-reviewed-the-research-0nldkhesc","datePublished":"2026-09-24T11:12:25.332Z","dateModified":"2026-09-24T11:13:39.569Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jenuel Oras Ganawed","url":"https://daily.dev/jenueldev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--BadmiNyj--/f_auto/v1787625077/avatars/avatar_JJtZr4Sjm?_a=BAMAMicg0","description":"I am a Full Stack Developer from Philippines. ","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":6665}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VDukGCjf--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2002","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":36},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":8}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/u0N0rNpaY"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"The article’s biggest worry is that we become more productive while losing track of what we no longer understand. That’s a fair concern, but I think it depends on how AI is used. If my goal is a good product and I get there by directing AI through the development instead of working out every detail myself, I haven’t lost much. It’s the same reason I don’t need assembly language because a compiler handles it, or don’t need to add 2+2 by hand when a calculator does it, as long as I understand the underlying concepts. The comparison has limits, though. A compiler or calculator is precise and predictable, so you never need to check its work. AI makes an educated guess at what you meant, and it can be confidently wrong. So the skill I can’t afford to lose isn’t the syntax. It’s being able to judge the result.\nMy approach is experience plus trial and error, which I think is one of the best ways people learn. I give the AI a goal, check whether the result meets it, and test its reasoning against what I know. Where my experience runs out, I have it research further or research on my own. The weakness of trial and error is that it only teaches you about the errors you see. Security holes, untested edge cases, and problems that only appear at scale can pass every test, and the AI can make a flawed approach sound sound. So I also go looking for those failures by asking the AI what would break its solution and where it’s least sure. That’s why I don’t think the answer is avoiding AI. It’s staying in charge of the thinking, and critical thinking is the one thing we can’t hand off.","datePublished":"2026-09-24T14:28:55.378Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/0NldkHeSc#c-qkHCRhItL","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Anthony DelSorbo","url":"https://daily.dev/tonyd","image":"https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/16364999?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"@jenueldev That’s true, and the entire developer community is facing this issue, especially freshers.","datePublished":"2026-09-24T12:29:13.274Z","dateModified":"2026-09-24T12:30:25.503Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/0NldkHeSc#c-e3d6A4qLs","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rahul Godiyal","url":"https://daily.dev/rgodiyal","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJUbWuKor0twjzGVmI3sXXFcW_cr9pu-M4_NN4eu3TOF-7Cf9o=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"You don’t need these capabilities at all! they are very temporary ones. humanity will not need programming at all, it’s a whole concept you simply can throw away once AI is available.","datePublished":"2026-09-24T12:40:54.587Z","dateModified":"2026-09-25T06:42:58.357Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/0NldkHeSc#c-sHfvmqONi","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Yair Even Or","url":"https://daily.dev/yaireo","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/845031?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":6}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"learning is a skill. It just take an effort to do so.\nLike when i was in my school days. You have books but if you don’t open them and read them, you don’t learn anything, if you don’t listen to your teacher, you don’t learn too.","datePublished":"2026-09-24T23:53:35.024Z","dateModified":"2026-09-24T23:54:18.938Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/0NldkHeSc#c-SZNkFqeSr","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Niforos","url":"https://daily.dev/niforos","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--3INpNlqF--/f_auto/v1722469316/avatars/avatar_7FcUfmCIqn2x7B7GHcD8m"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"AIs literally making us dumber. Literally.","datePublished":"2026-09-25T15:05:21.686Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/0NldkHeSc#c-Xj4nuJwBG","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rap Payne","url":"https://daily.dev/rappayne","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1122906?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/jjtzr4sjm","name":"Jenuel Oras Ganawed"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jenuel Oras Ganawed","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/jjtzr4sjm"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI can make us faster while quietly weakening the skills we stop practicing. I reviewed the research on productivity, learning, creativity, jobs, and programming. https://blog.jenuel.dev/blog/ai-is-making-us-more-capable-is-it-making-us-less-capable-too"}]} ```