I used to cheat by asking application specific programming tips from forums such as this one, stack exchange, /g/ (way back when), various IRC channels, etc. This is no longer practical with the Advent of AI, forcing me to actually read books for a change. One can't really judge their own intelligence but I certainly feel like I've gotten smarter the past couple years.
At some point we are going to need a bigger discussion on if AI will make us dumber because it replaces our deep thinking or make us smarter by having us level up. And what point does AI level up beyond what we as humans can do in terms of deep thought?