  A good portion of a software practitioners' day involves seeking and using
information to support task completion. Although the information needs of
software practitioners have been studied extensively, the impact of AI-assisted
tools on their needs and information-seeking behaviors remains largely
unexplored. To addresses this gap, we conducted a mixed-method study to
understand AI-assisted information seeking behavior of practitioners and its
impact on their perceived productivity and skill development. We found that
developers are increasingly using AI tools to support their information
seeking, citing increased efficiency as a key benefit. Our findings also
amplify caveats that come with effectively using AI tools for information
seeking, especially for learning and skill development, such as the importance
of foundational developer knowledge that can guide and inform the information
provided by AI tools. Our efforts have implications for the effective
integration of AI tools into developer workflows as information retrieval and
learning aids.
