I think a lot of AI talk doesn't explain where it shines the brightest (imo): Write the code you don't want to write.

I've recently had an issue "add VNC authentication" which covers adding vnc password auth to our inhouse vnc server at work.

This is not hard, but just a bit of tedious work getting the plumbing done, adding some UI for the settings, fiddle with some bits according to the spec.

But it's (at least to me) not very enjoyable, there is nothing to learn, nothing new to discover, no much creativity necessary etc. and this is where Codex comes in. As long as you give it clearly scoped tasks in an environment where it can use existing structures and convetions, it will deliver. In this case it implemented 85% of the feature perfectly and I only had to tweak minor things like refactor 1-2 functions. Obviously I read and understood and checked everything it wrote, that is an absolute must for serious work.

So my point is, use AI as the "code monkey". I believe most developers enjoy the creative aspects of the job, but not the "type C++ on your keyboard". AI can help with the latter, it will type what you tell it and you can focuse on the architecture and creative part of the whole thing.

You don't have to trust AI in that sense, use it like autocompletion, you can program perfectly fine without it but it makes your fingers hurt more.