[SunTzuWu]

Unfortunately, these days airlines are hiring cockpit managers instead of pilots who know how to fly.
Problems? Turn off the auto pilot and fly the plane while your co-pilot reads the check list.
Inexperience in the cockpit is what killed these folks.

[Haiku Guy]

The auto pilot did not crash this aircraft.

This aircraft was crashed by the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) system, which is active whether the autopilot is on or not.

In this case, the pilots were hand-flying the plane right into the water. They wanted to go up, the MCAS wanted to nose down. The MCAS won the fight before they were able to disable it.