1 min lesson
Use AI for lookup, not for design
Use "The healthy use is targeted" to describe the practical rule.
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Use AI for lookup, not for designwhere the line sits
The healthy use is targeted: "what's the signature of Array.prototype.flatMap," or "generate the boilerplate for this test harness." The unhealthy use is handing the model the whole problem and steering by vibes. Keep the architecture, the data model and the tradeoffs in your own head; let AI handle the parts you already know but don't want to type.
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The authenticity test
The authenticity testthey can tell within minutes
Cursor interviewers can tell within minutes whether you actually use Cursor daily for real work or skimmed the docs to prep. The way you drive AI in-round is part of that signal: fluent, opinionated use reads as authentic; hesitant or over-reliant use reads as someone performing familiarity. The fix isn't a script. Use the product on real work for weeks before the loop.
“I'll let autocomplete fill the loop body, but I want to design the dedup grouping myself first - here's my plan. If a suggestion doesn't match the invariant I just stated, I'll throw it out and explain why.”
Rehearse cold coding too. The first screens are autocomplete-only, so practice writing a clean text-buffer or duplicate-files solution start to finish with no chat assistant. If you can only solve with AI doing the thinking, the no-AI screen will expose it fast.