The hot take everyone's avoiding: AI coding assistants are making developers "lazy" — and we should celebrate it.
I'm watching developers panic about Copilot, Cursor, and the latest AI coding tools "doing the work for them." The fear is real: Will I forget how to code? Am I becoming dependent? What if the AI writes bad code?
Wrong questions. Here are the right ones.
The Abstraction Ladder Never Stops
Remember when developers worried that high-level languages would make them "forget" assembly? That IDEs with autocomplete would make them "forget" syntax? That Stack Overflow would make them "forget" how to problem-solve?
Each abstraction layer didn't make developers dumber. It made them focus on what actually matters.
Assembly → C → Python → frameworks → AI assistance. Same ladder, higher rung.
What "Lazy" Really Means
When developers say AI makes them lazy, they usually mean:
- Less time debugging syntax errors
- Less memorizing API documentation
- Less writing boilerplate code
- Less context-switching to search for solutions
That's not lazy. That's efficient.
The best developers were always "lazy" in this sense. They automated repetitive tasks, built reusable components, and focused brain cycles on architecture and business logic.
AI coding assistants just democratized that efficiency.
The Real Skills That Matter
Here's what AI can't do (yet):
- System design: Understanding how components fit together
- Problem decomposition: Breaking complex requirements into solvable pieces
- Code review: Spotting architectural issues, security flaws, and maintainability problems
- Product intuition: Knowing what to build and why
- Technical communication: Explaining decisions to teams and stakeholders
If you're spending 60% of your time on syntax and boilerplate, AI frees you to spend 80% on these higher-value skills.
The Dependency Myth
"But what if the AI goes down?"
What if Stack Overflow goes down? What if GitHub goes down? What if your IDE crashes?
We're already dependent on dozens of tools. Adding one more intelligent tool to the stack isn't fundamentally different.
The smart move isn't avoiding dependency — it's understanding your tools deeply enough to work without them when needed.
Embrace the Lazy
Stop feeling guilty about AI assistance. Start feeling guilty about manual work that could be automated.
The developers winning in 2026 aren't the ones who can write perfect syntax from memory. They're the ones who can architect systems, solve user problems, and ship valuable products faster.
AI coding assistants don't replace thinking. They amplify it.
Use the tools. Get lazy about the boring stuff. Get obsessed with the stuff that actually moves the needle.
Your future self (and your users) will thank you.
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