GitHub Copilot is the most widely adopted AI coding tool in the world. Millions of developers use it daily. Most describe it as indispensable. That word — indispensable — is worth examining closely.
The tab-accept spiral
Copilot suggests, you press Tab. Suggest, Tab. Suggest, Tab. Over time, the rhythm becomes automatic. You stop reading the suggestions carefully. You stop thinking about what the next line should be before it appears. The code still works, but your engagement with it has fundamentally changed.
The interview problem
Developers who have used Copilot extensively report struggling in technical interviews where AI tools aren't available. The gap between their AI-assisted performance and their solo performance has widened, sometimes dramatically. This isn't a theoretical concern — it's happening now.
What's really at stake
The question isn't whether Copilot makes you faster — it clearly does. The question is what happens to your capability when it's unavailable. If the answer is "significantly reduced," you have a dependency, not a tool.
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