By Hildeberto Mendonca, on Saturday, March 28, 2026
Software development is the activity most impacted by AI. It is where most productivity gains come from. But so far, despite all predictions, AI still doesn't give enough confidence to replace software engineers, but it does generate more output for the engineer.
AI in Software development is also the one that impacts the most the people involved. As opposed to other areas, AI automates the creative process, instead of the usual repetitive work.
AI is a service, and as a service it can go offline. When it goes offline, the productivity sinks. A database is also a service, but it can run locally. It is very expensive to run an AI model locally. When we use a service like a database, there is no mind decay, but the more we use AI, the less we
There is a compromise to make. While AI increases productivity a lot, some of the gained time needs to be invested in the engineer, who has to understand and criticize the code instead of accepting it blindly. This investment will pay off in the occasions when the AI is out of service.
So yes, when we develop software, we will be way more productive than before, but less productive than someone who only uses vibe coding and doesn't take the time to understand and criticize what is generated.