This is my exact experience. It’s just god awful now.Glad I'm not the only one that noticed this. Ever since iOS 17, I have felt that Autocorrect has gotten so aggressive that I'm finding myself having to go back and change words in something like half or more of the messages I type. It's really, REALLY bad.
For instance, the today I was trying to start a sentence with "I gave my". It changed it to "I have my" THREE times before it let me keep it and there wasn't even any X to tap to make it not do it. I know it has always done this stuff here and there, but now it feels constant. Like it's aggressively trying to predict and assume what I'm going to type and not even giving me the option to deny what it predicts.
Side note, I don't understand why "Never change a correctly spelled word" isn't a Settings option.
Ugh, I just typed “now” and it changed it to “how.” Utter trash Apple. It’s embarrassing and completely frustrating.