And why I'm 100% cool with it

So, AI, you either love or hate it, it seems, especially if you're a developer. So, Kyle Cook of Web Dev Simplified put out this video here. I'm going to link it in the description. 200,000 views. People are really agreeing with what he has to say. And this is not a bashing video. I've known of Kyle for years. We've exchanged a few messages on Discord. But I have a completely different opinion as to why we're seeing the rise of AI content here, especially on YouTube and other networks, and the fall of hand-coding based tutorials. Now, I'm not going to play any clips from his video. You can watch it on your own. But he said two different things, and then I want to respond to those. So, the first thing he said at the very beginning was, "And all of your favorite channels that used to make programming content just seem to be talking about AI or other crap that doesn't even matter." All right. So, that This last few words, "other crap that doesn't even matter." That's That's important. The second thing he said a little bit later on is all these channels seem to be talking about is AI. And the reason is is because these videos get a crazy amount of views. Okay. So, why do they get crazy amount of views? That's really the crux of the issue. And we can't sit there and blame people for seeking out. This is a demand. It's econ 101. It is supply and demand. Clearly, we're seeing a huge demand for AI-based content. Why? Well, I can only speak from personal experience. This is my anecdotal experience. I've also talked with other people who feel the same way. So, some background about myself. I've been doing this for 30-plus years in terms of design and code. I've had this channel regularly producing content for like since 2014. I have like 1,800 videos or something around there. And I've taught a lot of hand design and hand coding. Now, I consider myself much better designer than coder because it's very difficult to achieve expert-level status in those two different paradigms. And in the last 2 years, AI has become so good that I have heavily adopted it and integrated it into my own personal workflows, but also in my content and what I focus on on this channel. Is it because I'm just chasing views and I'm some type of fly-by-night grifter? No, it's because I've personally found massive utility in AI. For instance, one of the first full projects I was able to build with AI is Note Fury. Now, Note Fury is just this cool thing where I was able to take my guitar, plug it into the computer, and it can automatically detect notes, and it has this cool 3D user interface that I built. And I would have never been able to build this from scratch because at best, I'm an intermediate developer. I don't have the time, especially with a family, to really dedicate myself for years in order to learn everything that's necessary to pull this type of project off myself. Fast forward to that, I build LabCoat. Now, LabCoat is a blood AI analysis app, and I had tremendous amount of fun building this because as I build it, I discovered that the advice it was giving me and the insights it was giving me into my own lab work seem to be far more valuable and comprehensive than any single doctor has ever given me. Then I spent 3 months using Claude Code Opus 4.6 back in December to about February completely redoing, refactoring designcourse.com. So, if you go there now, that was There was zero hand coding involved in that. And that is a really complex piece of software. There's a lot happening in the back end. I have AI integrated in the back end, an AI chatbot that helps me do certain things with a lot of different tooling. I was able to get rid of several different subscriptions like my live chat solution. That's all custom coded, and it just works. And then additionally, I have this poll projection software that I'm working on for the past several months, and it is honestly one of the most complex pieces of software I've ever used because it's tying together so many different things and it is addicting. Why is it addicting? Because for the first time I'm able to pretty much build whatever I imagine. And the reason is is because AI has reduced friction, a massive amount of friction. Friction is having to spend years learning coding, algorithms, syntax, all that stuff. And AI coding and some of AI design as well has gotten to the point where it takes away and removes almost all of that friction. Now, for somebody like me who's had a very strong technical background, I know how to code from an intermediate perspective, I know how to design, this is a massive unlock. However, there's still a ton more people, like 99% of people have less technical skill than me. They want to try to use AI to imagine and build whatever it is they want, but they're still running into issues. That's why there's a demand to discover, "Hey, what's the best model? What's the best way to prompt this?" And it's because these people they still need skill. You still need a lot of skill in order to integrate AI. So, those are the two reasons. AI is a massive unlock so that you don't have to spend years learning coding from scratch. And B, it still takes skill though in order to properly learn how to use it and harness the power of it. Now, another reason we're seeing this divide is because I think you can really just group developers up into two sets of people. There's one group that really loves the process, the the the process of coding itself. And then there's the other group of people who just want to get to the end result no matter how you get there. I am much more in this crowd who just wants to try to get to the end result as best as I possibly can. Of course, while minding, you know, good coding practices, you want to have security, all of that, but I can get to this state a hell of a lot faster. And if I were to stay in this state, and let's say AI didn't exist at all, honestly, a lot of my ideas just would have never been possible. I would have never had the time, energy, or patience that it takes to have the type of skills that are required to build the type of projects that I want. So, yes, I'm going to keep keep on leaning heavily into AI content, sharing the things and the tips and the tricks that I've learned, because there's still a lot of skill involved being able to properly utilize this stuff. So, I just wanted to put my opinion out there. We'll see if I get a bunch of hate with it or not. But, yeah, hopefully you enjoyed this. I will see you all soon, and goodbye.