There’s been a lot of noise about AI replacing developers. Spoiler: it won’t. But your job is changing in ways nobody’s really talking about.

Ever wonder why AI sometimes acts like your chatty friend and other times like a stiff librarian? The difference often comes down to two invisible ingredients: the system prompt and your user prompt. Let’s peel back the curtain.

AI isn’t going to take your job, it’s going to change your job. There are things you do as part of your job now which will go away, but new parts will be added.

I recently built a production-ready application entirely with AI assistance, 100% written by the AI - not as a proof-of-concept, but as a functional tool designed to solve complex workflow problems.

It wasn’t magic, it was work.

Update: The application code is now over 5,600 lines of code, plus 16,000 lines of code in 883 tests giving 100% coverage including branches.

There is a lot of discussion about using AI for development. Much of it is over-stated hype, either for or against.

“AI only turns out garbage” is what some people will tell you.

“AI will replace developers” is what others will say.

Like most things, the truth is somewhere in-between.

Summary

AI-assisted development can help create code faster, but pitfalls like amplified design flaws and cascading errors demand careful handling

This article cuts through the hype by showing how unchecked AI use mirrors real-world failures like Knight Capital’s $500M loss (caused by human process gaps, not technology).

Even skilled developers like “Alice, Bob, and Charlie” introduce subtle mistakes when inheriting code under time pressure, and AI accelerates these risks by acting like a new developer every time you hit “enter” - forgetting context, skipping safeguards, and magnifying poor documentation or rushed decisions.

It is important that you need to enforce defensive practices (like file operation safeguards and explicit error checks) while juggling roles as architect, reviewer, and quality gatekeeper to prevent small oversights from exploding at machine speed.

Ever feel like you’re whispering into a megaphone when talking to AI? You’re not alone - and the fix is simpler than you think.

Are you curious about how AI can enhance your work, but feel overwhelmed by the technical jargon? If so, you’re in the right place!

When you last interacted with AI, did it seem like a mysterious magic box, or did you feel empowered to mold it to your needs?

In this primer, we’re going to remove the magic, and help you understand it as a tool you can manipulate.