This problem has existed long before AI became useful. As technology becomes more accessible, less knowledge is required to operate it. As that knowledge becomes less necessary, fewer people acquire it. Eventually the abstraction becomes so effective that entire layers of knowledge disappears from common practice.

As a person who's a solid generalist with over 30 years in various roles, I am completely and utterly shocked at how little foundational knowledge people in "senior" roles possess across a wide variety of technical fields. I'm often treated like some wizard or oracle for knowing things that everybody in the field used to know, I just haven't retired yet.

AI didn't create this phenomenon, it's just the latest (and probably the fastest) iteration of it. I recall another particularly large iteration happened when Windows NT 4.0 Server saw mass adoption. Suddenly, people who were effectively IT technicians were now sysadmins.

Edit: grammar