We must return to the fundamental truth The source code is not the product. The product is the Outcome the user achieves. The code is merely the expensive, high-maintenance machinery required to deliver that outcome. If you can deliver a $1,000,000 outcome with 10 lines of code, you are a hero. If you deliver that same outcome with 37,000 lines, you have just created a $1,000,000 liability.

This certainly describes the primary way I use AI agents.

There is only one source of feedback that moves at the speed of AI-generated code: yourself. You're there to prompt, you're there to review. You don't need to recruit testers, run surveys, or manage design partners. You just build what you want, and use what you build.

And that's what many developers are doing with cheap code: building idiosyncratic tools for ourselves, guided by our passions, taste, and needs.

Because it is not the final bottleneck. We will find ways to take responsibility for what we ship, because society will demand it. Non-sentient machines will never be able to carry responsibility, and it looks like we will need to deal with this problem before machines achieve this status. Regardless of how bizarre they appear to act already.

I too am the bottleneck now. But you know what? Two years ago, I too was the bottleneck. I was the bottleneck all along. The machine did not really change that. And for as long as I carry responsibilities and am accountable, this will remain true. If we manage to push accountability upwards, it might change, but so far, how that would happen is not clear.