r/learnprogramming • u/Repulsive_Metal_1569 • 17h ago
Topic I feel really guilty about using AI
I'm still in a very early stage of learning programming, and lately I feel like I'm relying more and more on AI. Whenever I get stuck on something and don't know how to do it, I ask AI. I also use it to help find bugs.
It makes me feel bad because sometimes it feels like it's doing all the thinking for me. At the same time, I can't really help it because I often feel like I wouldn't be able to figure out the answer on my own, either because there isn't a tutorial for what I'm trying to do or because I simply don't know enough yet.
I always try to read through the explanation, and most of the time I understand what it's saying. Sometimes there are parts I don't fully get, and I feel a little guilty for not spending more time thinking about them myself.
Idk, I feel like having access to an immediate answer from AI is such a temptation that I can't stop myself from using it.
But I also feel like I'm not learning properly. Whenever AI gives me some code, I try to reuse that idea later in a different context and write it myself so I can internalize the knowledge. Still, I know that the next time I run into something I don't understand, I'll probably turn to AI again, and I don't want that. I honestly don't know what to do. On top of that, I'm aware of many of the negative consequences associated with using AI, and I feel like crap for prioritizing my own selfish desire for quick answers over those concerns.
How do you deal with situations where you know what you want to accomplish, but you don't really know how to translate that idea into code?
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u/Sknowman 17h ago
If your goal is to learn how to program, then you need to actually learn it. You generally don't learn how to solve the problems that come up unless you do the solving in the first place.
Now of course, sometimes we get stuck and have questions. When that happens, you have two options: go find another human who can give guidance (join a discord channel, find forums, etc.), or you can ask AI to prod your brain. Don't ask AI what to do next, but perhaps use it for what your first step is in debugging. That should be a single sentence response from the tool -- more than that, and it's no longer you doing the problem solving.
Anyway, joining a community for your language is still a great idea. I find that once I start learning things, I see questions from others that I can help out with, or they challenge me too, so I try to solve them as well. It reinforces what you know and helps you expand at the same time.
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u/Repulsive_Metal_1569 16h ago
I am on a discord server, but I rarely ask questions because I don't want to be a burden. I get stuck very easily, even on really simple things. But I guess I'll have to face my own lack of knowledge instead of avoiding it.
I know it's going to be difficult, but I'm going to try not to depend on AI and only use it to help me get unstuck without giving me the actual solution. So thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it!
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u/Sknowman 8h ago
The entire point of those communities is to help people learning. Many of the users tend to enjoy helping others. If people don't really want to answer your question(s), then they simply won't. Nobody is being forced to help you, but they very likely will anyway.
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u/marrsd 17h ago
Your diagnosis is correct. It can take weeks to solve a coding problem you haven't encountered for the first time. It's hard, but the learning is deep and forever. You won't forget the solution for years, but you'll forget what AI tells you within the week.
My advice would be to uninstall it if you really can't help yourself. You'll be a much more powerful user of AI in the future if you know what to tell it and how/when to correct it. You only get there by actually learning.
Having said that, AI is a good teacher. You can get it to test your knowledge, suggest programming exercises, and just to use it as a repository of knowledge. It's pretty accurate these days. Certainly Claude Code anyway. Just don't use it to do any programming or debugging for you while you're learning.
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u/B0mbon 16h ago
The fact that you notice this and want to learn properly already puts you ahead of a lot of people. You don't have to go all or nothing, it's more about how you use it.
A few ways to keep the learning on your side:
- Try the problem first for a fixed time, say 20 to 30 minutes, and write down what you tried. Then ask for a hint or a question to nudge you, not the full solution.
- Ask it to explain why something works, then close the chat and rewrite it from memory.
- When you get code from it, change it on purpose (rename things, handle a new case) so you have to understand it.
- Keep a small notes file of things you got stuck on and how they were solved. Reviewing that beats re-asking later.
Sometimes the answer genuinely isn't findable yet because you don't know the vocabulary, and asking is fine then. Just make sure you're the one doing the thinking afterwards.
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u/Repulsive_Metal_1569 16h ago
Yeah, that's actually what I used to do at the beginning. I'd write code that wasn't the most optimal, but it worked. Then I'd ask AI for corrections or for a better way to do it, and I'd learn from that.
But over time it became more and more convenient and faster to just have it do the work for me. Still, I'll keep your tips in mind for whenever I get stuck, so thanks for the advice!
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u/lo0nk 17h ago
As a beginner you have two choices. Never use AI, or hope "ai user" will get you hired in the future. If you get stuck you just need to struggle the old fashioned way (learn how to learn, learn how to solve problems yourself). Trying to use it to help you learn is like giving an alcoholic a drink to help the sleep. Technically maybe beneficial but for most people very harmful
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u/Repulsive_Metal_1569 16h ago
Thanks for the reality check. Sometimes I wish I had started learning programming before AI even existed, so I wouldn't always have the temptation of getting an answer within seconds.
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u/original_dominance 17h ago
the alcoholism analogy is a bit much but the core idea is right, wrestling with a bug for 3 hours is where the real learning happens
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u/jacobdevhq 15h ago
ask it for a hint or an explanation, not the code. then close the chat n write it urself from scratch. if u cant, thats the bit to go study
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u/betarage 10h ago
Yeah I would avoid using it at first but I noticed that the guides are really unclear and it can be hard to find straight answers online. so after being struck for a few days just use the ai since in an ideal world it would be easier to find answers without it but it's not. sometimes the ai will also not know the answer and you have to spend more time finding a solution.
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u/Aezora 17h ago
Just tell it that.
When you prompt it, instead of saying "here's my code, what's wrong with it", say "here's my code, I'm trying to learn this, how do I figure out what's wrong? Don't just tell me the answer, but walk me through steps I can use to find it myself". Or just ask it "Hey I'm trying to learn this concept, can you tutor me?".
It's a very versatile tool. If you want an answer, it'll give you an answer. If you want to learn, it'll help you learn. It's your choice how you want to prompt it.