Archive · 22 Sep 2026
Sridhar Vembu Urges AI Use Without Losing Technical Understanding
Sridhar Vembu is encouraging engineers to use AI tools.
He also says they should still understand the technology they are building.
An engineer described a difficult experience with AI-assisted software development.
The engineer said employees worked 12 to 13 hours each day.
They spent much of that time telling AI what code to create.
They had little time to check the code or learn how the system worked.
The engineer said bugs were not being fixed and that the main goal was to ship quickly.
The concern is that AI can make coding faster but may leave people with less time to think and review their work.
Sridhar Vembu urged engineers to use AI while maintaining technical understanding.
An engineer said employees were working 12 to 13 hours daily.
Much of their time was spent directing AI tools rather than writing or understanding code.
The engineer said there was little time to inspect AI-generated code or understand system components.
The post criticized a focus on shipping quickly, saying bugs were not being resolved and people were no longer thinking.
- Who
- Sridhar Vembu and an unnamed engineer whose post described AI-assisted software development.
- What
- A discussion about using AI in software development while preserving engineers’ technical understanding and time for code review.
- Why
- AI is making software development faster, but the engineer said this has increased pressure to deliver more code and ship quickly.
AI-Assisted Productivity
Technical Oversight
How AI should be used
AI-Assisted Productivity
AI tools can help engineers produce software faster, and Sridhar Vembu urged engineers to use them.
Technical Oversight
AI use should not replace engineers’ technical understanding of the code and systems they build.
Delivery versus review
AI-Assisted Productivity
The reported workflow emphasized shipping more code quickly.
Technical Oversight
The engineer argued that employees need time to inspect AI-generated code, understand system interactions, resolve bugs, and think through their work.
- Advocate mentioned
- Sridhar Vembu urged engineers to use AI without losing technical understanding.
- Work hours
- The engineer said employees were working 12 to 13 hours a day.
- AI role
- Employees spent much of their time directing AI tools instead of writing or understanding code.
- Review concerns
- The engineer said there was little time to inspect AI-generated code or understand system components.
- Reported problem
- The engineer said nobody was resolving bugs.
- Main criticism
- The engineer criticized a focus on shipping regardless of what happened.