Changed my mind: AI is actually good for coding

The author says he was skeptical of AI development tools because the demos felt overhyped and the “AI will replace developers” framing seemed unrealistic. A conversation with Adam Wathan and Brian Casel changed that view.

He highlights that much of programming is grunt work, which AI handles well. He also says AI matters more in the hands of experienced developers, because it is easy to trust it when it is confidently wrong if you do not already know the work. The post also notes business risks for Tailwind Plus if people rely on markdown docs instead of visiting the site, and it closes with open questions about the effects on junior developers and how teams will adapt.

Reading notes

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• The author was skeptical of AI development tools because the demos felt overhyped and the “AI will replace developers” framing seemed exaggerated.
• A conversation with Adam Wathan and Brian Casel changed his mind.
• Adam says about 90% of programming is grunt work, and AI is good at that part.
• The point is not to replace creativity, but to remove tedious work that adds little value.
• Adam and Brian say AI is bad when you do not know what you are doing, but useful when you are already an expert.
• Adam warns that AI can be confidently wrong, and that is hard to detect if you cannot judge the work yourself.
• The post reframes the issue as AI making experienced developers more capable.
• Dave Giunta raises a question about how junior developers will learn if they lose practice with easy grunt work.
• Adam says AI affects the Tailwind Plus business because people want LLM.txt versions of the docs.
• If users stay on markdown files, the business loses website traffic and the chance to advertise products.
• The author says everyone is figuring this out in real time and that the industry has no playbook yet.
• Brian says he is building more complex features than he would have tried before.
• The author ends by wondering what all of this means for junior developers.