Stop Using AI to Write Code You Don’t Understand

Unpopular opinion: The biggest risk of AI coding tools isn’t that they’ll replace developers. It’s that they’re creating developers who can’t code without them.

I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly in code reviews:
– Junior dev uses Copilot to generate a function
– Function works but uses an approach they can’t explain
– When it breaks in production, they can’t debug it because they never understood it
– They paste the error into ChatGPT, get a fix they also don’t understand
– The cycle continues

I’m not anti-AI. I use it daily. But I have a rule: if I can’t explain line-by-line what the AI-generated code does, I don’t commit it. I either learn what it does first, or I rewrite it in a way I understand.

AI coding tools are incredible for experienced developers who use them to go faster. They’re potentially dangerous for beginners who use them to avoid learning.

Am I being too cautious? I’d love to hear from other senior devs and also from newer developers using these tools.