Interesting post, but this perspective seems to be the main focus, like all the time. I find this statement to be completely wrong usage of AI:

“This is especially noteworthy because I don’t actually know Python. Yes, with 25+ years of software development experience, I could probably write a few lines of working Python code if pressed — but I don’t truly know the language. I lack the muscle memory and intimate knowledge of its conventions and best practices.”

You should not use AI to just “do” the hard job, since as many have mentioned, it does it poorly and sloppy. Use AI to quickly learn the advantages and disadvantages of the language, then you do not have to navigate through documentation to learn everything, just validate what the AI outputs. All is contextual, and since you know what you want in high level, use AI to help you understand the language.

This costs speed yes, but I have more control and gain knowledge about the language I chose.

I agree 100%, but in this very specific case, I really just wanted a working one-off solution that I'm not going to spend much time on going forward, AND I wanted to use it as an excuse to see how far I can go with AI tooling in a tech stack I don't know.

That being said, using AI as a teacher can be a wonderful experience. For us seniors, but also and probably more importantly, for eager and non-lazy juniors.

I have one such junior on my team who currently speed-runs through the craft because he uses AI to explain EVERYTHING to him: What is this pattern? Why should I use it? What are the downsides? And so on.

Of course I also still tutor him, as this is a main part of my job, but the availability of an AI that knows so much and always has time for him and never gets tired etc is just fantastic.