Archive · 9 Jan 2026
Zoho Engineer Builds AI-Powered Tool in One Month
At Zoho, a company that makes software, the leader Sridhar Vembu shared an exciting story.
One of their smart engineers built a special tool that helps keep computer programs safe.
Normally, this would take a big team a whole year, but this engineer did it alone in just one month using AI.
Sridhar was really impressed.
He said this shows how AI can help people do amazing things.
The engineer wasn't even sure about AI at first, but now he sees how powerful it can be.
This is a big moment for Zoho as they figure out how to use AI in their work.
People online are talking about it too, some are excited, and others are thinking about how AI can be better.
Sridhar also said that AI is good at some things, like connecting different parts of a program, but it still needs help from humans to make sure everything works right.
A senior Zoho engineer developed an advanced assembly and machine-code security tool in one month using AI.
The tool's development would traditionally require a team of 3-4 engineers and take a year.
Sridhar Vembu, Zoho's co-founder, was impressed by the engineer's work and the potential of AI.
The engineer initially doubted AI-generated code but embraced it for this project using the Claude Opus 4.5 model.
Vembu acknowledged the strategic pressure this transformation places on Zoho's leadership and research teams, emphasizing the need for human oversight in AI coding.
- Who
- Sridhar Vembu, Zoho co-founder and Chief Scientist, and a senior engineer in Zoho's R&D team
- What
- A senior engineer developed an advanced assembly and machine-code security tool using AI
- When
- The tool was developed over the past month and demonstrated recently
- Where
- At Zoho
- Why
- To explore the potential of AI in software development and enhance productivity
AI Advocates
AI Skeptics
AI's Role in Software Development
AI Advocates
AI significantly enhances productivity and can generate functional code, especially for 'glue code' and system integration.
AI Skeptics
AI-generated code can be needlessly verbose and may require substantial human oversight to be useful.
- Company
- Zoho
- Key Figure
- Sridhar Vembu
- Tool Developed
- Assembly and machine-code security tool
- Development Time
- One month
- Traditional Development Time
- One year by a team of 3-4 engineers
- AI Model Used
- Claude Opus 4.5
- Engineer's Initial Stance on AI
- Skeptical
- AI's Strengths
- Stitching together systems, generating glue code, recalling patterns from open-source code
- AI's Limitations
- Needlessly verbose code, potential for hallucination, requires human guidance
Sources
‘I was blown away’: Sridhar Vembu on how AI supercharged an engineer’s productivity at Zoho
‘As Chief Scientist, I am under pressure…,’ says Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu after engineer uses AI to make new security tool
Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu points AI-generated code is ‘needlessly verbose’, says he is ‘impressed and not Super Awed’
"I Was Blown Away...": Zoho Founder Amazed As Engineer Builds Advanced AI-Powered Tool In Just A Month
If AI replaces junior engineers, where will future seniors come from? Arattai co-founder sparks debate
