I've been preaching the benefits of well designed code for a long time, explaining that 10x engineers exist but only if the codebase permits... Nobody got it. Now when people start with a poorly architected project and the AI starts generating slop code on top at a rapid rate, they finally learn the lesson I've been trying to get across. The effect was always there but AI makes it even stronger and allows people to understand the problem of compounding technical debt faster.
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On ugly codebases, you have to wrestle with it to make it address the root cause and prevent it from hacking around every problem. It's like playing a horrible game of Whac-a-Mole; completely different experience.
It's disturbing how often the economic determinism argument is trotted out that have no choice. The current US administration was voted into office supported by tech billionaires who did not want AI to be regulated. Sounds like they have a choice.
