AI Assistance Increases Speed but Lowers Coding Mastery in Trial

AI boosts task speed but may hinder skill mastery – Observational work shows AI can cut task time up to 80% [3] while other studies find users become less engaged and offload thinking [5][6].

Randomized trial tested AI impact on learning a new Python library – Fifty‑two junior developers, all familiar with Python, learned Trio via coding tasks with or without Claude.ai assistance; design mimicked a self‑guided tutorial [1].

AI users scored significantly lower on post‑task quiz – The AI group averaged 50% versus 67% for hand‑coding, a 17% drop equivalent to two letter grades (Cohen’s d = 0.738, p = 0.01); debugging questions showed the largest gap [1].

Productivity gain was modest and not statistically significant – AI participants finished about two minutes faster on average, but the difference did not reach significance, suggesting speed benefits may appear on repetitive tasks [1].

Interaction style determined learning outcomes – Low‑scoring patterns relied heavily on AI for code generation or debugging, scoring < 40%; high‑scoring patterns combined code generation with follow‑up conceptual queries, achieving ≥ 65% scores, indicating active engagement improves mastery [1].