Thinking alone about fundamentally deep problems can be poweful, but most software problems are not that deep, they follow a pattern, and it's only a question of discovering them. Doing that alone is inherently slower and less efficient than discussing it with a colleague.

AI just serves as a substitute - an artificial conversational partner.

I feel like you consider yourself more virtuous for not using AI for discussion. Would you consider people who don't talk to colleagues at all, but do all the work themselves more virtuous in an analogous manner?