They aren't increasing productivity. In the short term.

They are very handy tools that can help you learn a foreign code/base faster. They can help you when you run into those annoying blockers that usually take hours or days or a second set of eyes to figure out. They give you a sounding board and help you ask questions and think about the code more.

Big IF here. IF you bother to read. The danger is some people just keep clicking and re-prompting until something works, but they have zero clue what it is and how it works. This is going to be the biggest problem with AI code editors. People just letting Jesus take the wheel and during this process, inefficient usage of the tools will lead to slower throughput and a higher bill. AI costs a good chunk of change per token and that's only going up.

I do think it's addictive for sure. I also think the "productivity boost" is a feeling people get, but no one measures. I mean, it's hard to measure. Then again, if you do spend an hour on a problem you get stuck on vs 3 days then sure it helped productivity. In that particular scenario. Averaged out? Who knows.

They are useful tools, they are just also very misunderstood and many people are too lazy to take the time to understand them. They read headlines and unsubstantiated claims and get overwhelmed by hype and FOMO. So here we are. Another tech bubble. A super bubble really. It's not that the tools won't be with us for a long time or that they aren't useful. It's that they are way way overvalued right now.