Artificial intelligence can now write code at a pace that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. But the more code machines generate, the more critical human oversight becomes – only a human can determine whether the solution fits into an existing system and will remain functional for years to come.
According to Raimo Seero, CTO at Uptime, AI is an excellent tool for quickly solving simpler tasks and generating large volumes of code. “Software development has become faster and, in some ways, more cost-effective,” he explains. “Today, even a junior developer can, with AI’s help, produce seemingly suitable and functional code at a volume that once seemed almost magical.”
But Every Solution Has Weaknesses
While AI can produce working code under the light supervision of a moderately skilled developer, it cannot still think critically about code sustainability, maintainability, or structure. AI tends to rebuild entire software solutions from scratch rather than adapt or improve existing ones.
“AI doesn’t ask itself whether someone else will be able to understand the code later or how it fits into a larger system,” Seero points out. “That can lead to situations where seemingly functional pieces don’t work well together, making future maintenance difficult and costly. If you blindly trust AI, technical debt can accumulate very quickly.”
He compares it to constructing an apartment building. AI might eagerly build the first, second, and third floors, but if the first floor is flawed, the entire building may collapse. That’s why human oversight is essential – someone needs to assess whether AI’s architectural plan makes sense. Here, the experience and foresight of seasoned professionals – those who can think five or ten steps ahead – are irreplaceable. Years of working with diverse systems give senior developers a unique ability to spot potential risks.
Senior Developers Safeguard the Sustainability of Software Development
According to Seero, the rise of AI makes the role of experienced senior developers more important than ever.
“AI can produce code quickly with the help of junior developers, but only senior developers can spot systemic inconsistencies and intervene before problems snowball,” he says. This has even led to a shift in the development paradigm – where once the pace of progress depended on how much senior developers could pre-plan and delegate, today the bottleneck lies in how fast seniors can review, guide, and correct the work generated.
“As junior developers generate code much faster with AI, someone has to thoroughly review it,” Seero explains. “This means demand for experienced senior developers has noticeably increased. You could say that AI’s involvement in the development process makes the human role even more vital – ‘trust but verify’ is no longer enough. The new mindset should be ‘verify, then verify again.’”
Seero’s Recommendations for Companies Using AI in Software Development
For companies currently using or planning to adopt AI in their daily development work, Seero recommends creating a deliberate and well-thought-out framework:
- Every piece of AI-generated code must be reviewed by a human – preferably an experienced senior developer or architect.
- The team must have a clear understanding of the system’s architecture and sustainability so AI solutions don’t break the existing structure.
- Define technical and procedural boundaries for AI – for example, in which components AI is allowed to generate code, and where it’s not.
- Establish rules and practices for validating AI-generated code, including which tools to use and who is responsible for their performance.
- Before deploying AI solutions, identify legal, sustainability, and resilience-related risks and find ways to mitigate them in advance.
He emphasises that these principles must also apply to all of a company’s partners. In the age of AI, anyone can seemingly create something that “works,” so businesses need to be more critical than ever when choosing development partners. Partners should demonstrate how they ensure sustainability, maintain a proper balance between junior and senior talent, and uphold quality standards for AI-supported solutions.
“If AI is used carelessly, the seemingly faster development process can gradually lead to systems that are unmanageable,” Seero warns. “But if a company has mechanisms in place to guide and oversee it, AI can be a powerful ally. That’s how we do it at Uptime.”