Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

In my experience this approach is kicking the can down the road. Tech debt isn't paid down, it's being added to, and at some point in the future it will need to be collected.

When the agent can't kick the can any more who is going to be held responsible? If it is going to be me then I'd prefer to have spent the hours understanding the code.





> who is going to be held responsible?

This is actually a pretty huge question about AI in general

When AI is running autonomously, where is the accountability when it goes off the rails?

I'm against AI for a number of reasons, but this is one of the biggest. A computer cannot be held accountable therefore a computer must never make executive decisions


The accountability would be in whoever promoted it. This isn't so much about accountability, as it is who is going to be responsible for doing the actual work when AI is just making a bigger mess.

The accountability will be with the engineer that owns that code. The senior or manger that was responsible for allowing it to be created by AI will have made sure they are well removed.

While an engineer is "it" they just have to cross their fingers and hope no job ending skeletons are resurrected until they can tag some other poor sod.


So not really any different from how things work without AI.



Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: