AI coding assistants, productivity boost or skill rot?

[Neon Grace]

I have been using AI assistants for code daily for over a year now and I honestly cannot decide if they are making me better or worse. Boilerplate that used to take an hour takes minutes, and that part is undeniably great

But I caught myself last week unable to remember basic syntax I have written a thousand times, because I now just accept the suggestion. It feels a bit like satnav brain, where nobody can read a map anymore. The skill did not disappear, it just went soft from lack of use

Where do you all land on this? Is it just the calculator debate again, where the tool absorbs the boring layer and frees you for design, or is something more important being lost this time?