why I stopped using AI (as a Senior Software Engineer)
AI Summary
The video discusses why the creator, a senior developer, stopped relying heavily on AI for coding after three years and about 150,000 lines of AI-assisted code. Initially, AI tools felt magical, speeding up MVP delivery significantly. But over time, issues arose with AI-generated code introducing bugs, redundant and bloated codebases, lack of component reusability, and technical debt. The creator shares three key lessons learned: 1) Master the fundamentals as AI cannot replace deep knowledge of small but critical coding details; 2) Less code is more—complexity and size lead to problems, simplicity is key; 3) It is often easier and more efficient to code manually than to overly explain problems to AI, which lacks true understanding and often generates flaky results. The video stresses cautious and strategic use of AI as a tool for tasks like generating mocks or improving poor documentation, rather than over-relying on it. The speaker encourages continued skill improvement and code review diligence. Viewers are invited to comment if they want a follow-up video on best practices for AI-assisted coding.