In past iterations, what ease corresponded to was standardization: we went from multiple assembly languages to a C or BASIC, from addressing specific hardware to cross-platform APIs, and from defining multiple character encodings to standardization on Unicode.

Generative AI throws the switch in reverse, because it's indifferent to standardization: people are formulating questions about data and how to process it in their native tongues, skipping the encoding process and the need to study documentation altogether. There isn't a point where it becomes, "oh, but then you hit a brick wall and have to learn the real stuff to solve your problem". GPT helps relatively less as you go deeper and further away from a SO-type answer, but it's a gradual decay.