A critical look at the 'AI replaces developers' narrative, arguing that AI coding tools amplify both strengths and weaknesses in engineering organizations. Drawing on warnings from engineers behind popular AI coding tools, the piece contends that AI-generated code is dangerous not because it produces obvious garbage, but because it produces plausible-but-wrong output that slips into production. The real risk is abdication — skipping design, judgment, testing, and ownership. AI rewards experienced engineers who can evaluate output, not those who blindly accept it. Guardrails must be architectural, not aspirational, and the best metric isn't percentage of AI-generated code but whether defects, incidents, and delivery times improve.
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