Almost no skill required to cook a steak
This piece argues that while AI can accelerate software development, it lacks the human judgment required to produce high-quality, consistent results. The author compares AI-assisted coding to cooking a steak, noting that following a recipe is not the same as mastering the craft.
Why it matters
It provides a critical perspective on the limitations of AI in professional software engineering and the necessity of human expertise.
Why AI can make software development faster without replacing the judgment and understanding needed to build consistently good software.
Cooking a steak requires almost no skill.
Put it in a hot pan, wait a little, flip it, and eventually you’ll have something technically edible. But a genuinely good steak, medium-rare from edge to edge, browned properly, seasoned right, consistently delicious, is a different matter entirely.
Software development with AI is starting to feel much the same.
We build nonstop now. With AI, without AI, during the commute, on the toilet, probably in our sleep. We create agents, harnesses, tools, skills, prompts, feedback loops, elaborate workflows. Then we throw everything at a model and hope it gives us what we imagined, without ever having to understand how any of it actually works.
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