# Brendan Cody-Kenny: AI may make software engineering more of an engineering discipline

Technical Due Diligence for Software M&A https://sub.xiliary.com/p/brendancodykenny

### 2026-10-20 published #ai #harness-engineering #software-engineering #verification
AI may make software engineering more of an engineering discipline
- AI has opened the floodgates on code generation. Software production is accelerating, but our ability to understand, verify and control what gets produced hasn't kept pace.
- That creates a divergence: more code can be shipped with less understanding, while the need for specifications, tests, instrumentation and independent checks grows.
- Industrial production needed measurement, standardisation and quality control alongside faster machinery. Software needs stronger engineering controls alongside faster generation.
- The shift is not about making programmers write better code. It's about establishing what a system does, what it must not do, and how we know.
- The pressure for more engineering is real. Whether organisations build those controls or accept the failures is an open question.

https://sub.xiliary.com/p/brendancodykenny/posts/77/ai-may-make-software-engineering-more-of-an-engineering