I have spent the last 9 to 12 months training on CF, and i started getting decent at it...(e.g. ~1300 contest rating) Now after keeping up with AI development mainly Open-AI models, it started to feel less rewarding and fun to do CP...

AI is Getting better than most competitive programmers:

I'm sure that most of you know about the recent performance charts that were published for open-AI o1 model... it's now out preforming most real competitors and even achieving 1st place on a leetcode recent contest, and that strips away the fun and enthusiasm in doing online contests.

Why is it a Big Deal:

for many programmers, including me, doing CP was a fun way to expand our knowledge and problem solving skills, while also preparing for job interviews.

And doing online contests is a way to monitor our improvement and performance... but now that anyone with zero to no experience can solve most problems that many average CPs struggle with, it's certainly a turn off for many... Suddenly reaching a certain milestone in rating doesn't mean much.

The Chess Argument:

I have seen a lot of CF users, throw around the chess Argument, that is "even after machines became better than humans in chess it it still played by humans", but what these arguments are overlooking is the fact that Chess is a game, not a career choice for the most part, And it's done mostly for fun, while CP is a skillset and a career defining one...

Is AI gonna take over CP?

not necessarily, but it's certainly gonna be a turn off for a lot of people. Now more than ever doing CP is turning into a game YES just like chess, and now for many people including me, solving problems on the problemset or doing virtual contests is more tempting than competing against cheaters and feeling like trash...

Main Takeaway:

I'm not writing this to discourage people or to push them away from doing CP, it's still a great way to improve problem solving skills, I just want to know IS IT STILL WORTH IT Because, after investing a quite a bit of time in CP it doesn't seem that worthwhile after the recent changes in the tech space... maybe doing it casually while investing that time in another skill would be more beneficial career wise?

Side note:

I just read Um_nik's recent Blog and i have to say, this is really out of touch, i have to say it... I don't really care if i get down voted... You have to secure a job and achieve financial stability so you can Do something solely for 'Fun' ! :/