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set autocommit=OFF
Do lots of INSERTs/UPDATEs/DELETEs
disconnect

Step 3 will do an implicit ROLLBACK since there was no COMMIT.  And this is why I advise against ever using autocommit=OFF.
And, yes, the AUTO_INCREMENT would not be reset.  That's just one of the quirks of auto_inc.  (Actually, it is an efficiency measure.)
So... either
SET autocommit=ON;

and leave it that way.  Check the configuration, too.  Or use transactions:
BEGIN;
inserts, etc
COMMIT;