Ask HN: How to deal with shipping AI-written code you don't understand?
586 points by rzk 6 days ago | 696 comments
tl;dr: A Meta engineer's LinkedIn post sparked discussion about the discomfort of shipping AI-generated code without fully understanding every line, which contradicts traditional software engineering instincts. The OP asks how other engineers are reconciling the speed of AI-assisted development with the need to actually comprehend what they're building and shipping.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Design the architecture yourself and let LLM only implement details you understand
  • ~Treat yourself as a Principal Engineer reviewing AI-generated junior-level code
  • ↑You must always read and understand code before shipping; no excuses
  • ~Extensive testing compensates for not reading every line of AI code
  • ↓You never fully understood all code anyway; mental models at right abstraction suffice