Write code like a human will maintain it
The author warns that relying on LLMs to generate repetitive code without refactoring creates a feedback loop of technical debt. Because LLMs learn from existing codebase patterns, merging sloppy, AI-generated code forces the model to replicate those bad practices in future tasks.
Why it matters
It identifies a critical long-term risk in software engineering workflows where AI-assisted coding can inadvertently degrade code quality and maintainability.
One of the best things about LLMs is that they'll write code for you, all day long. Who cares about DRY? You don't have to be the one updating the same long conditional in four different files - the AI will just do it for you! Right?
I've noticed myself letting it slide recently on a project I'd been building with AI. I needed the same access check in a handful of places: a route handler, a background job, an API endpoint, a webhook, etc. Each time, I'd describe what I needed, the model would generate something that worked, and I'd merge it.
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