A Day Without AI: Seems Like I Lost My Brain? My Thoughts

Last month, I had one of those days that made me question how dependent we’ve become on AI tools.

Normally the common coding AI tools like GPT and Claude cost around 2,500 BDT a month. So, I am still not a big fan of using paid tools, buying with own money but as a developer, I need access to paid tools to get the best of it. So normally I use VS Code Copliot with Github Pro (You can access GitHub Pro with University Email) for free with all premium model access. It solves my problem of getting access to premium AI. For daily coding, I use Copilot to ask questions, take guidelines; it seems like AI is a secondary brain for me.

But one day, I suddenly noticed that the premium access was not available anymore. I started panicking about what to do. It seemed like my brain stopped working properly. Something inside me broke, I didn’t know what. I spent three freaking hours trying to fix it. I tried checking emails, settings, payment history, and almost everything in Github. Nothing made any sense. Nothing did work out.

My brain was like, “Hey buddy, I think my time has come. Good bye"

Then I found it. The culprit. One silly Github action was continuously burning my AI credits. Normally in Github pro, you get monthly 4 dollar to use. This github action used all of the credits in 1 week without my concerns. Okay, hopefully in the next month I’ll get my $4 reset and all will be fine… or maybe not. Who knows?

Meanwhile, I have a list of pending tasks, and I can’t waste another second “debugging” this AI subscription drama. I again checked GPT and Claude pricing. Should I buy this? I lost access to all paid tools. Seems like I feel hope less and brain stopped with panicking?

I just… stopped. Closed everything. Went back to my daily work and pending task.

But you noticed one thing? I spent almost 5 hours just doing this while panicking. Was it even necessary?

Back to the Old Ways Style

I took a deep breath. If AI is gone, that doesn't mean I am dead. I was still a better coder when there was no AI. AI just helps me do it faster not can't replace me properly yet.

So, as for next 1 week I will have no access to premium models.

No more fancy prompts. No “Hey AI, write this for me.” It’s all me now. Though I'm feeling like I've lost half of the brain is, still there are so much pending tasks which I need to start now.

So I rolled back to old days style. This meant

1. Start finding the issue on my own

2. Understanding the requirements again and again before writiing a single line. Seems like I am reading the requiremnt 100 times

3. Searching every possible corner case it can have

4. Writing my own code from scratch

5. Testing it visually over and over

6. Trying different condition until something works accordingly

Now I don't have Ai to give the best result, I need to find the best outcome of my own

Meanwhile, my brain keeps whispering: “Bro… we’re missing the other half.” I am trying to recover it. Now I can realize where AI has brought us to now.

Around this time, I came across some interesting articles:

• How AI Vibe Coding Is Destroying Junior Developers' Careers.

• Cursor makes developers less effective?

It perfectly connected me with what I was going through. The main takeaway?

If you let AI do all the work, you stop learning how to think like a developer.

You get code, sure, but you have no idea how it works, how to debug it, or how to maintain it. If AI is gone, you are just a useless body without soul of AI

The “Vibe Coding” Trap

Vibe coding is when you throw all your problems at AI, get code back, and ship it without really understanding what’s going on. It feels fast, but it’s a career trap, especially for juniors.

The article even highlighted research showing developers who use AI feel 20% more productive but are actually 19% slower in reality. That’s a huge perception gap.

My Takeaways From the Day Without AI

1. AI is a tool, not my brain. If it disappears tomorrow, I still need to be able to deliver.

2. Debugging without AI sucks… but it’s real learning. Today I solved problems myself, even if it took longer. I found the actual happiness.

3. I don’t want to be a pseudo-developer. I want to actually understand my code, not just ship AI-generated magic. You can’t make big-picture technical decisions.

4. I need practice without AI. Maybe not every day (let’s be real), but enough so that my brain doesn’t rot. You can’t judge quality or security.

I won’t lie having AI back will feel like regaining superpowers. But last month reminded me that relying on it too much is like outsourcing part of your brain.

Learning of that day :

if AI dies tomorrow, I don’t want to feel like I’ve lost my brain again.

I started changing myself. Understanding the requirements more before coding, started review other codes, ask thousands of question untill i have a clear view of what's going on.

I find real happines, when I fix the code on my own.

Can you share experience without AI? how you are using it?

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Thanks for Reading! 🧡

I hope something here increased your curiosity or helped you see tech from a new angle. If you enjoyed this, feel free to share it or hit reply. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until next time, keep learning and building!

Sumonta Saha Mridul*, Associate Software Engineer I, [*Cefalo Bangladesh Ltd.](https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cefalobangladesh/)

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