Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Darkly)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo
  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition.

“Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
54 Posts 43 Posters 56 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

    “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

    “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

    https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

    Matt PalmerW This user is from outside of this forum
    Matt PalmerW This user is from outside of this forum
    Matt Palmer
    wrote last edited by
    #6

    @GossiTheDog to the LLM booster club, this will simply be interpreted as "we need to LLM harder, so as to completely replace workers as soon as possible".

    dataramaD Little Art HistoriesA 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • Matt PalmerW Matt Palmer

      @GossiTheDog to the LLM booster club, this will simply be interpreted as "we need to LLM harder, so as to completely replace workers as soon as possible".

      dataramaD This user is from outside of this forum
      dataramaD This user is from outside of this forum
      datarama
      wrote last edited by
      #7

      @womble @GossiTheDog The study was by Anthropic, so that is *exactly* the intended interpretation.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

        “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

        “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

        https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

        https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

        random thoughtsH This user is from outside of this forum
        random thoughtsH This user is from outside of this forum
        random thoughts
        wrote last edited by
        #8

        @GossiTheDog

        This is by design. Just like production lines destroyed artisanship for working classes, this will destroy the knowledge-based roles for the middle classes. You are no longer valued if you have wide breadth of knowledge. You are obsolete. You can't even specialize in a particular topic.

        Neo EhproqueE 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

          “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

          “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

          https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

          https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

          Corb_The_LesserC This user is from outside of this forum
          Corb_The_LesserC This user is from outside of this forum
          Corb_The_Lesser
          wrote last edited by
          #9

          @GossiTheDog Not thinking leads to not thinking.

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

            “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

            “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

            https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

            https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

            Nicole ParsonsN This user is from outside of this forum
            Nicole ParsonsN This user is from outside of this forum
            Nicole Parsons
            wrote last edited by
            #10

            @GossiTheDog

            Look at it from the perspective of the investors of AI.

            1. What is Saudi Arabia & UAE getting for its $100 billion when the consequences are pyrrhic?

            https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub

            https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html

            Answer: kneecapping a necessity like a fossil fuel phase out.

            2. What are the billionaires of Koch Network getting for their $1 billion propaganda campaign pushing AI?

            https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/07/17/bill-gates-charles-koch-and-three-other-billionaires-are-giving-1-billion-to-enhance-economic-mobility-in-the-us/

            https://www.desmog.com/2025/12/11/the-koch-network-is-pushing-trump-to-accelerate-ai-documents-show/

            Answer: permanent rule under a White Supremacist Constitution

            filobusF 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

              “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

              “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

              https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

              https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

              Bad News NobodyD This user is from outside of this forum
              Bad News NobodyD This user is from outside of this forum
              Bad News Nobody
              wrote last edited by
              #11

              @GossiTheDog who cares, soon there'll be no need for human coders anymore, whatever remains of the profession will be janitorial in nature. /s

              EQE 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                Gabriel Adrian SamfiraG This user is from outside of this forum
                Gabriel Adrian SamfiraG This user is from outside of this forum
                Gabriel Adrian Samfira
                wrote last edited by
                #12

                @GossiTheDog this is no different than doing excessive hand holding as a mentor. When you answer questions instead of helping the mentee to fundamentally understand the thing they're asking about, and figuring out the issue for themselves (with your help), you take away from the valuable mental process that develops critical thinking and problem solving.

                And a LLM does precisely this. It answers all your questions. You get the result. You never figure out the problem for yourself.

                astolkA CVE- AES256-PRIVATEL AncaA 3 Replies Last reply
                0
                • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                  “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                  “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                  https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                  https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                  Volker StolzF This user is from outside of this forum
                  Volker StolzF This user is from outside of this forum
                  Volker Stolz
                  wrote last edited by
                  #13

                  @GossiTheDog We’ll be busy removing this “digital asbestos” out of any software written this decade(?) for ages…

                  MissConstrueM 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                    “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                    “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                    https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                    Little Art HistoriesA This user is from outside of this forum
                    Little Art HistoriesA This user is from outside of this forum
                    Little Art Histories
                    wrote last edited by
                    #14

                    @GossiTheDog I wonder which impact this will have on society. Not that people become more stupid, etc. but the mental impact - can it lead to bore-out? Depression? Mental illness? Because our brains are craving activity.
                    The other concern is the erosion of the average jobs. What's left is work for unskilled workers or highly educated specialists. Which is also a problem in the long run. But, I guess, that's what they want. Cheap, unskilled labour with brain rot.

                    generic holiday season bribS 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                      “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                      “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                      https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                      https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                      War in PiecesW This user is from outside of this forum
                      War in PiecesW This user is from outside of this forum
                      War in Pieces
                      wrote last edited by
                      #15

                      @GossiTheDog indeed

                      i am living proof of this effect.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                        “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                        “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                        https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                        https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                        damianwalshD This user is from outside of this forum
                        damianwalshD This user is from outside of this forum
                        damianwalsh
                        wrote last edited by
                        #16

                        @GossiTheDog Our study, conducted by Professor No Shit and Doctor Obvious, found that when people offloaded their thinking to AI, they put in less effort and were less engaged, creating a barrier to personal development in exchange for a marginal increase in productivity.

                        Chance 'UmT 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • Matt PalmerW Matt Palmer

                          @GossiTheDog to the LLM booster club, this will simply be interpreted as "we need to LLM harder, so as to completely replace workers as soon as possible".

                          Little Art HistoriesA This user is from outside of this forum
                          Little Art HistoriesA This user is from outside of this forum
                          Little Art Histories
                          wrote last edited by
                          #17

                          @womble @GossiTheDog It is so dumb when you look at it. They are complaining when people don't have a job because they are laid off, complaining that people are lazy wellfare-queens and at the same time want AI to replace every single job. It's the same with the old "Immigrants are lazy and getting our hard-earned money doing nothing while taking all our jobs".

                          I am pretty much convinced at this point that Capitalism is a cult, an addiction, and a scam.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Nicole ParsonsN Nicole Parsons

                            @GossiTheDog

                            Look at it from the perspective of the investors of AI.

                            1. What is Saudi Arabia & UAE getting for its $100 billion when the consequences are pyrrhic?

                            https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub

                            https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html

                            Answer: kneecapping a necessity like a fossil fuel phase out.

                            2. What are the billionaires of Koch Network getting for their $1 billion propaganda campaign pushing AI?

                            https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/07/17/bill-gates-charles-koch-and-three-other-billionaires-are-giving-1-billion-to-enhance-economic-mobility-in-the-us/

                            https://www.desmog.com/2025/12/11/the-koch-network-is-pushing-trump-to-accelerate-ai-documents-show/

                            Answer: permanent rule under a White Supremacist Constitution

                            filobusF This user is from outside of this forum
                            filobusF This user is from outside of this forum
                            filobus
                            wrote last edited by
                            #18

                            @GossiTheDog @Npars01 first link seems to be broken

                            Nicole ParsonsN 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                              “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                              “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                              https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                              https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                              C This user is from outside of this forum
                              C This user is from outside of this forum
                              ckfinite
                              wrote last edited by
                              #19

                              @GossiTheDog I was really (positively) surprised that Anthropic released this. Their results broadly align with my personal experience and feelings about AI usage, though I have substantial misgivings about their methodology (in particular how they controlled for participant experience).

                              Another issue that I worry a lot about with AI is second-order effects, wherein you use the LLM to write a library and then are expected to be able to evaluate the LLM's ability to use the LLM-written library. I think that this is both a priori very hard (to know all of the details of the library to be able to catch issues) and is lossy (in issues in library design or abstraction factoring that may be identified through use implementation).

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • filobusF filobus

                                @GossiTheDog @Npars01 first link seems to be broken

                                Nicole ParsonsN This user is from outside of this forum
                                Nicole ParsonsN This user is from outside of this forum
                                Nicole Parsons
                                wrote last edited by
                                #20

                                @filobus @GossiTheDog

                                Thanks! Fixed it.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • Gabriel Adrian SamfiraG Gabriel Adrian Samfira

                                  @GossiTheDog this is no different than doing excessive hand holding as a mentor. When you answer questions instead of helping the mentee to fundamentally understand the thing they're asking about, and figuring out the issue for themselves (with your help), you take away from the valuable mental process that develops critical thinking and problem solving.

                                  And a LLM does precisely this. It answers all your questions. You get the result. You never figure out the problem for yourself.

                                  astolkA This user is from outside of this forum
                                  astolkA This user is from outside of this forum
                                  astolk
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #21

                                  @gabriel @GossiTheDog also not being able to see possible problems with the code generated by a LLM is going to be a major pita down the line. Even before when all the seniors are retired.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                                    “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                                    “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                                    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                                    https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                                    N This user is from outside of this forum
                                    N This user is from outside of this forum
                                    Neil Moffatt
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #22

                                    @GossiTheDog Many behave in herd fashion down the path of outsourcing all they do to devices. The brain LOVES to economise so just lets cognitive functions atrophy as it does with unused muscles.

                                    A systemically alarming state of affairs that is only now slowly being addressed - young children absent face to face spoken words are struggling to learn to read ... etc. etc.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • random thoughtsH random thoughts

                                      @GossiTheDog

                                      This is by design. Just like production lines destroyed artisanship for working classes, this will destroy the knowledge-based roles for the middle classes. You are no longer valued if you have wide breadth of knowledge. You are obsolete. You can't even specialize in a particular topic.

                                      Neo EhproqueE This user is from outside of this forum
                                      Neo EhproqueE This user is from outside of this forum
                                      Neo Ehproque
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #23

                                      @hittitezombie @GossiTheDog just as soon as customers can describe what they want in precise unambiguous terms. I'll wait.

                                      Wild Eyed Boy From FreecloudW 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • Bad News NobodyD Bad News Nobody

                                        @GossiTheDog who cares, soon there'll be no need for human coders anymore, whatever remains of the profession will be janitorial in nature. /s

                                        EQE This user is from outside of this forum
                                        EQE This user is from outside of this forum
                                        EQ
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #24

                                        @dukeboitans @GossiTheDog What hurts most in your comment is that you had to put /s on the end. Because this is exactly how some talk and mean it as something good.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • Kevin BeaumontG Kevin Beaumont

                                          “Novice workers who rely heavily on AI to complete unfamiliar tasks may compromise their own skill acquisition. We find that AI use impairs conceptual understanding, code reading, and debugging abilities, without delivering significant efficiency gains on average.”

                                          “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

                                          https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.20245

                                          https://www.anthropic.com/research/AI-assistance-coding-skills

                                          GuntherG This user is from outside of this forum
                                          GuntherG This user is from outside of this forum
                                          Gunther
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #25

                                          @GossiTheDog I read the Anthropic article, the most interesting part to me was how different people use the LLM to assist their coding. You can choose to offload the cognitive effort or use it as a tool to help understand, it's up to you.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          Powered by NodeBB Contributors
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups