AI is great. There are a dozen blog posts covering them. This isn’t one of them. What nobody tells you is how frustrating it can be.

I was recently working on a ffmpeg related project at work, and tried out the latest Gemini 2.5 model. It is really verbose. Like adding a comment for every line of code verbose. Even after asking the model to cut it out and keep it concise, it refused. But thats not even the worst part. NumberList

These AI models disillusion you with the sense of a solution. They pretend as if they have the answer, and assure you that with a few more prompts, you would have solved your problem. But what actually happens is -

1. You ask it for code
2. It gives you code that doesn’t compile
3. You fix errors so that it compiles
4. It doesn’t do what you asked for. But it seems close.
5. Go back to step #1

What actually really really sucks about this is how much time you waste doing things that isn’t even relevant to your original problem. At best, you spend 5-10 minutes in one loop, and at worst, you encounter another completely unrelated issue. And you know where you go to find the solution?
The goddammit AI again.

I wasted ~2 hours trying to get Gemini give me the answer. The actual fix - a bit of stack overflow magic, and some personal intuition. The feeling is magical - only to realise that you did not need AI for this AT ALL. Not only did you waste 2 hours, you absolutely kill all the momentum you have.

I’m not saying you should abandon AI. But if you really care about “getting gud” you should

• disable any in-editor AI. copilot. cursor. whatever. They take over your thinking, and you end up solving a problem that you didn’t even need to solve.
• default to stackoverflow. If you have an issue, go there. It has worked for others, it should work for you.
• use AI as a means of brainstorming. Don’t ask if for the code. Ask it for an approach. Validate it with stackoverflow.
• timebox it. Don’t run into rabbit holes and dead ends. Make sure you’re controlling the AI, and not the other way around.

I still believe that using AI is a net positive, but this was a very frustrating experience.