𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 You use AI to speed up your coding. But do you know the cost? For every dollar you spend on AI coding tokens, a large chunk goes back into fixing bugs. This speedup is not free. It's a loan that you pay back later.
Here's what you need to know:
- AI coding tokens can introduce bugs that cost time and money to fix
- The cost of fixing these bugs can be high - roughly 44 cents for every dollar spent on tokens
- This cost is like interest on a loan. You get speed now, but you pay later
When to use AI:
- Throwaway code that you don't need to maintain
- Code that you can easily verify is correct
- Code that replaces looking up information
When not to use AI:
- Core domain logic that you'll maintain for years
- Security-sensitive code
- Code that you can't easily verify is correct
The key is to measure the cost of AI coding, not just the benefits. Track the time spent fixing bugs and the cost of maintenance. Don't just look at the speedup. Look at the whole picture.
Source: https://dev.to/p0rt/your-ai-coding-speedup-is-a-loan-not-a-gift-and-the-interest-is-coming-due-2bkd