How Not to Lose Developer Skills in the AI Era

AI tools are making us faster. But are they making us better? As AI writes more of our code, developers are quietly losing the judgment, debugging instincts, and architectural thinking that made them valuable. Speed is up. Understanding is down.
This talk introduces V.U.E — a shipping rule (Verified, Understood, Explainable) — and the 4 AI Failure Monsters: named patterns of failure that show up when teams over-delegate to AI without guardrails. You'll leave with the AI Skill Preservation Checklist — a practical framework your team can adopt in a two-week experiment, no process overhaul required.
This isn't an anti-AI talk. I use AI tools daily on a consumer app serving millions of users. This is a talk about using AI without letting it use you.

First delivered at WAWTech 2025 in Warsaw (December 2025). Preferred duration: 30–40 minutes. Target audience: mid-to-senior developers and tech leads who use AI tools daily and want a practical framework for keeping their engineering skills sharp. No slides-only talk — includes interactive elements and real-world examples. Open to both in-person and remote delivery across Europe.