Are AI code editors worth your time?

Published: 4/20/2025

I have been using VS Code since day one of my coding journey. I love it because it’s free and versatile.

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There were always "better" IDEs like Neovim and JetBrains’ Webstorm coming up. But I didn't bother to try, because I could do anything with VS Code. Plus, I believe you can be a proficient programmer regardless of the IDE you use.

So when AI code editors came up, I thought they were distractions like the other IDEs.

But things got a little bit different this time.

My Experience With AI Code Editors

When AI code editors first appeared I was skeptical because I had tried Copilot (back then it wasn’t free and it sucked) and other tools. My verdict was that I’m better off writing code myself.

But the glaze for the tools keeps getting crazier. Many of them are AI influencers claiming that they can build whatever they want without learning to code. At some points, I was really annoyed by these comments and decided to try it out, just to prove them wrong.

But they are better than I thought. The editor I tried is Cursor AI. In the first two weeks of the free trial, they provide free access to every model. And I have to say they are better than any AI tools I have used. Especially Claude 3.7-thinking. It gave me a false sense of real intelligence. And it accurately finished tasks that other LLMs struggled to do. So I have been relying on it more and more.

Eventually, I did everything through prompting. And that’s when things became problematic.

The Limitations of AI Code Editors

First of all, AI sucks at large scale tasks that involve changes to multiple files. There are often bugs, so I have to read all the code generated and debug it. I would much rather write code than read code. And many times, I would finish things faster if I just did it myself. This has been my experience with almost any AI tool I have used.

Second, when AI writes everything, I stopped trying to understand the code. That’s fine when the task is simple. But usually, what happens is I have to expand on the code. But I don’t want to read it so I use AI to do it for me. And the code gets more and more complex. Eventually there will be bugs that the AI can't solve and I have to go through the mess.

Third, it sucks at writing code for less popular library. For example, I was trying to add a less-used cms to my website, and the installation process suggested by Claude was all wrong. It was suggesting code from the older version of the library. And, I have to fact-check it using Google.

Since I noticed these problems, I have been using AI to code much less. Instead, I have found a better way to use them.

Use Cases Of AI Code Editors

There are four use cases that save me tons of time.

Debugging

They sped up the debugging process, but not in the way you expect. First of all, copying and pasting the error and throwing it to the AI won't work. So I have to explain the bug to it clearly. Sometimes this alone is enough to solve the bug. Second, many bugs are apparent and stupid, it's just not apparent at the moment. AI is good at pointing those out.

Learning

Sometimes I have completely no idea how to do something. And it's really hard to Google if you don't know what you need. So I will explain to AI what I'm trying to do, and based on the solution to understand what I need to learn learn to complete the task.

Writing small code snippets or scripts

AI sucks at large scale tasks, but is really good at small tasks with clear instructions. I use them to do things that are repetitive and boring.

Autocompletion

This is where AI really shines. Because they have access to your codebase, the autocompletions are often written in your own style, which is very convenient. And it feels addictive.

The right way to use AI

AI should be a tool to help you become better, but not finish the hard work for you.

In this age where people are addicted to AI tools, those who are still willing to commit to mastery will win.

If you are worried about being replaced by AI and all the effort and time you invest into learning to code will be wasted. Here's a quote from Naval Ravikant that I want to share with you:

"AI won’t replace programmers, but rather make it easier for programmers to replace everyone else."

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