There's a difference between playing to win and being frustrated because your opponent can consistently steamroll you effortlessly without even giving you a chance to set your game up.

Is there some shame in asking the AI to play worse?

It’s a machine, it won’t feel smug about knowing it could beat me if it wanted to.

I’ve never really understood people who are competitive about board games and similar inside-the-box scenarios. (There’s a certain “Dwight Schrute” aspect to that mentality that’s hard to watch.) I like losing in games because there’s no real-world cost to trying out some idiot strategy.