> And I didn't learn anything.

So first off, I mean, of course you didn't, right? You had already learned most of what you were going to learn from this specific project by doing it by hand.

But yes, if you use AI to do projects that might have been at the edge of your abilities pre-AI, you will learn a lot less. The solution, I've found, is to get more ambitious until you're back to the edge of your abilities even with AI. You should be asking the agent questions like "has anyone tried?" and keep pushing until it isn't sure, and you're not sure you have any idea what you're doing. Then ask questions until you feel like you sort of know what you're doing, and verify your understanding by directing the agent to build.