AI may make software engineering more of an engineering…

2026-10-20 · published

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.