AI Coding Assistants Linked to Skill Erosion, New Reports Warn
Developers Face Real Danger of Losing Core Coding Skills, Say Experts
A compelling new report featured in JetBrains' latest dotInsights roundup warns that over-reliance on AI programming tools is actively eroding developers' ability to code from scratch. The article, titled “I started to lose my ability to code”: Developers grapple with the real cost of AI programming tools by David Cassel, has sparked urgent conversations across the .NET community.
“We’re seeing a growing number of developers who have become dependent on AI assistants to write even basic functions,” said David Cassel, author of the featured report. “The convenience comes at a hidden price — the gradual atrophy of foundational skills like problem-solving and algorithm design.” This warning arrives as many teams accelerate AI adoption without measuring its long-term impact on developer proficiency.
Background
The use of AI coding assistants — such as GitHub Copilot, JetBrains AI, and various large language models — has exploded since 2023. While these tools boost short-term productivity, concerns about “comprehension debt” are mounting. Addy Osmani, in a related article from the same newsletter, coined the term to describe the hidden cost of AI-generated code that developers cannot fully understand.
DotInsights by JetBrains, released for May 2026, compiles critical updates and thought leadership for .NET developers. Alongside the skill erosion warning, the newsletter features over 30 articles covering topics from union types in C# 15 to performance optimisations in Entity Framework Core.
What This Means
For individual developers, the trend means a conscious effort to maintain hands-on practice is no longer optional. “If you rely on AI to write your loops and LINQ queries, you’re essentially skipping the mental workout that keeps you sharp,” commented Rocky Lhotka, whose article Systems Thinking also appears in the roundup. Organisations risk accumulating codebases that no one on the team can confidently refactor or debug without AI assistance.
On a positive note, the newsletter also showcases innovations that could help: union types in C# 15 (explored by Bill Wagner) promise to reduce boilerplate, while new guidelines on Comprehension Debt offer strategies to audit AI-generated code. The community is urged to treat AI as a junior pair programmer — not an autonomous writer.
Key Highlights from dotInsights | May 2026
- C# 15 preview: Bill Wagner explores union types, a long-requested feature for safer pattern matching.
- Performance mastery: Andrew Lock shows how
ReadOnlySpan<T>can eliminatebyte[]allocations in .NET Framework. - EF Core best practices: Chris Woodruff details batch delete/update without loading entities; David Grace explains query filters.
- AI development workflows: Nick Chapsas and Gui Ferreira present techniques to double AI workflow speed.
- Security alert: Adrian Bailador reveals what .NET exceptions can inadvertently leak to attackers.
- Community debate: Mark Heath poses the essential question: Does Code Quality Still Matter in the Age of AI-Assisted Coding?
These articles, along with many others, are available in full via the JetBrains .NET resource hub. The recurring theme is clear: innovation must be paired with vigilance.
Quotes from the Community
“The Cookie Apocalypse Already Happened,” writes Khalid Abuhakmeh, reminding developers that privacy changes are permanent. “Stop Writing Specs. Let AI Interrogate You Instead,” counters Gui Ferreira, advocating for a new specification workflow. The diversity of opinions underscores a community in transition.
Stefan Pölz and Eva Ditzelmüller, hosts of the 2code ^ !2code podcast, introduced Inspector Roslyn — a CLI tool that brings Roslyn analysis to the terminal. “We built this to give developers back control over code understanding, especially as AI-generated code becomes more common,” they said.
For .NET developers, the message is unmistakable: embrace AI, but never stop writing code yourself. The full dotInsights newsletter serves as both a roadmap and a wake-up call.
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