Developers report AI coding tools are causing addiction and burnout

A survey by Coddy Tech involving 305 developers indicates that 80% of respondents feel using artificial intelligence for coding has become more of an addiction than a professional advantage. While tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor accelerate tasks such as boilerplate generation and debugging, they are linked to significant mental health and productivity risks.

Key findings show that 43% of developers continue coding with AI after working hours, and 32% sacrifice sleep to maintain usage. This behavior is contributing to a rise in burnout, with 51% of participants reporting a higher likelihood of experiencing burnout due to intense AI integration. Additionally, 39% noted that these tools make it difficult to disconnect from work.

Data from Stack Overflow further highlights a shift in sentiment; while 80% of developers use AI in their workflows, confidence in the accuracy of AI responses has dropped from 40% to 29%. Developers expressed frustration with outputs that are “almost correct, but not quite,” which can complicate the debugging process and increase the overall cognitive workload.