Ask HN: How should new programmers learn in the AI era?

My younger brother just started learning programming. When I was learning, I spent weeks building small demos and exercises — calculators, todo apps, little games — but now, most of those can be built in seconds with AI assistants.

I’m wondering: should new programmers still learn the same way we did — building everything by hand — or are there better ways to learn with AI tools around?

Have you seen examples of new developers who learned effectively with AI assistance? How did they structure their learning or projects?

I’d love to hear what worked for you, your students, or junior colleagues today.