Canva CTO Brendan Humphreys revealed that engineering teams leverage AI agents to autonomously draft code-writing instructions overnight, transitioning senior engineers to focus primarily on reviewing AI outputs instead of traditional coding. Despite this shift, engineers remain tasked with defining complex problems and converting ambiguous requirements into actionable specifications, emphasizing the need for precise requirements and domain mastery, especially given Canva’s vast codebase of 70 million lines.
Similarly, Spotify CEO Gustav Söderström noted that top developers have not written code since December, instead overseeing an internal AI system. A report by Anthropic indicated that while AI is incorporated in 60% of developers’ tasks, only 0-20% can be fully automated.
A Sonar survey highlighted that 96% of developers mistrust AI-generated code, leading to “verification debt” where time is spent reviewing rather than developing code. As a result, the role of senior engineers is increasingly crucial for maintaining code quality and architectural integrity.
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