I spent a year building a 300k‑line production platform alone using AI‑assisted engineering. It worked — but only when AI was cheap and predictable. As model behavior shifted and costs rose, the entire system began to break in ways most teams haven’t experienced yet.
This essay is a field report from operating at the edge:
• how deterministic workflows collapse under model churn
• why reasoning‑first models break text‑pattern assumptions
• why AI engineering economics now resemble aviation, not cloud
• what architecture survives when the foundation keeps moving
If you’re building AI‑native systems, this is a look at the failure modes that are coming for everyone.
blinkbat•2h ago
you apparently also built an AI-written article. rolling my eyes rn
PaulHoule•1h ago
I've always been skeptical of the celebrity engineering managers/software entrepreneurs like Graham, DHH, Atwood, Spolsky [1], etc. Just because you made and marketed one or even two successful products doesn't mean you have any useful generalizable advice.
Today people who made something with AI think they have something profound to say about their experience but they don't.
All the projects I do now have a significant amount of input from AI assistants but I am going to post "Show HN: my heart rate variability biofeedback webapp"
and not add "... that i vibe coded" because the latter one codes me as yet another NPC.
(e.g. if I am more successful as AI-assisted developer than some people it is not because I know anything about AI-assisted development which is interesting or generalizable, but it is because of the toolbox I've been using in a lifetime of software development!)
[1] Carmack is a true genius who is the exception that proves the rule
iggori•2h ago
This essay is a field report from operating at the edge: • how deterministic workflows collapse under model churn • why reasoning‑first models break text‑pattern assumptions • why AI engineering economics now resemble aviation, not cloud • what architecture survives when the foundation keeps moving
If you’re building AI‑native systems, this is a look at the failure modes that are coming for everyone.
blinkbat•2h ago
PaulHoule•1h ago
Today people who made something with AI think they have something profound to say about their experience but they don't.
All the projects I do now have a significant amount of input from AI assistants but I am going to post "Show HN: my heart rate variability biofeedback webapp" and not add "... that i vibe coded" because the latter one codes me as yet another NPC.
(e.g. if I am more successful as AI-assisted developer than some people it is not because I know anything about AI-assisted development which is interesting or generalizable, but it is because of the toolbox I've been using in a lifetime of software development!)
[1] Carmack is a true genius who is the exception that proves the rule