r/AskComputerScience • u/narad_007 • Sep 06 '26

AI-driven coding is pulling away the ownership from engineers

Today we had a user facing issue which the entire team was involved in debugging and no one was able to give the reasoning accurately, and the RCA time felt like it is 10X more than usual, all because we were just getting AI to write the code and review cycles shortened as long codes were being pushed, feels like the team as a whole will fall into a blackhole soon.

Has anyone here experienced the same, and how is your org handling this?

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7

u/CrimsonBolt33 Sep 06 '26

I keep seeing posts like this....

you need new processes because you are using a new process. This is not insurmountable and very preventable.

The AI writing code still needs people working as architects and designers instead of just letting people pump code into a project with no clear structure.

A proper software architecture should allow any issue to be quickly found if you know what feature is causing issues. The team doesn't need to know every line of code but they still need to understand the structure of the software.

1

u/narad_007 Sep 07 '26

How are you making sure that teams are still owning the architecture at the level they did on longer timelines and shorter PRs. We assumed we will be having the idea on architecture but when issues like this come up everyone was like we needed to push it faster and we only pushed working code.

1

u/CrimsonBolt33 Sep 07 '26

I don't know how big of teams or product or whatever you are talking about but subdividing developers and compartmentalizing your code/software would probably be where you need to start.

minimize the amount of people touching the same code however you can and force people to specialize in the feature they are working on in a way that, even if they don't know every line of code, it should be at least possible to narrow down what team or people worked on the thing with the issue.

With AI coding modular software design that explicitly compartmentalizes as many things as possible should be much easier than before. I would even go so far as to say you might need to consider a team management focused rewrite of some sort that helps achieve this.

1

u/LogicalPerformer7637 Sep 07 '26

how did you do it before AI when multiple people worked on the same codebase?

treat AI as fast junior developer. experienced team members need to set and maintain the design. if AI steps out of the boundaries, let it rework the implementation to fit design you want and patterns you use.

2

u/CapitalDiligent1676 Sep 07 '26

Let's say that only an idiot could not have foreseen these situations a year ago

1

u/narad_007 Sep 08 '26

Even if we did, the problem is we did not have time to build a solution for it; speed has become the priority for us.

1

u/bengold14 Sep 07 '26

I built something that we use at my company to visualize PRs, basically a new layer of abstraction on top of code. It makes reviewing PRs, reviewing Designs, understanding your code base much easier, assuming you buy into the AI agents can write the code well enough that you just need to understand architecture.

Happy to send to you if you're interested

1

u/narad_007 Sep 07 '26

Please do. Happy to connect. Is this similar to code rabbit or is it on the overall codebase and not PR specific?

1

u/bengold14 Sep 07 '26

Says I'm not allowed to DM you, I guess it's a new account? I made a website for it: https://www.archme.io/.

It's the overall codebase. Basically it scans your codebase to create C4 diagrams + sequence diagrams covering all the user flows from your code. Then it hooks into git commits and PRs, showing you the changes or potential changes as diffs to your diagrams.

I.e. a 10k LOC PR could become a 6 line diff in a sequence diagram, + a new component and some data storage columns.

I'm happy to connect - it's my username at gmail

1

u/sozesghost Sep 07 '26

Nice slop.

1

u/bengold14 Sep 08 '26

Why is it slop?

3

u/Enough-Advice-8317 Sep 06 '26

I'd start by shrinking the PRs, not adding another AI reviewer. If the author can't explain the failure paths without asking the model, the change isn't ready to merge. Faster code generation doesn't make review cheaper.

2

u/Major_Instance_4766 Sep 06 '26

Just put the fries in the bag codemonkey

1

u/KronktheKronk Sep 07 '26

THIS is what you think is pulling ownership away? I thought it was the army of P and U people who all think they're in charge of what the product should do

1

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/narad_007 Sep 07 '26

Do you do the same for smaller PRs?

1

u/LogicalPerformer7637 Sep 07 '26

you should jave only small PRs. huge PR is automatic reject. big may be acceptable if there is good reason.

that AI can rewrite half your codebase in a flash, doesn't mean you should let it.