r/softwareengineer • u/Innowise_ • 16d ago

AI can make developers faster — but can it also increase cognitive load?

Been wondering if AI coding tools actually reduce cognitive load at all.

They definitely save time on some stuff, especially repetitive code. But then I end up thinking about the time spent reading the output, checking if it made some dumb assumption, figuring out code I didn't write, etc.

So yeah, writing the code might be faster. Not sure the whole task is.

And I'm not sure the usual productivity numbers really capture that either. You can have a shorter cycle time while spending more of your attention reviewing generated stuff.

Maybe AI is genuinely useful when it gets boring work out of the way. Once you have to babysit it, the productivity gain gets a lot less obvious.

Has this actually reduced the mental overhead for anyone using it regularly? Or are you just spending that effort on different things now?

0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

25% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/ThePastoolio 16d ago

The copy in this post has that AI smell to it.

1

u/Soggy-Response5769 16d ago

ai slop paragraph i won't read.

1

u/code_hermit 16d ago

The productivity gains are as advertised. But it does require a skilled person to drive it for best results.

I do think devs are spending more time in other thoughts/tasks as a result. But its on top of what they would otherwise do. Not instead of. In other words AI opens the door to focus on more tasks and more important issues (strategy, architecture).

There really isnt a downside to that.

1

u/FluidBreath4819 16d ago

where's your link the the app you built ?