--- title: A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software description: An architectural framing distinguishes two categories of AI systems: interaction-first systems that sit at the user edge (coding assistants, research tools)... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software | daily.dev og:description: An architectural framing distinguishes two categories of AI systems: interaction-first systems that sit at the user edge (coding assistants, research tools)... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/D50ar8aEo.png og:image:alt: A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software **[AgentField.ai](https://daily.dev/sources/agentfield)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An architectural framing distinguishes two categories of AI systems: interaction-first systems that sit at the user edge (coding assistants, research tools) where humans absorb ambiguity and correct mistakes, versus runtime-embedded systems where AI is woven into decision points that other software depends on directly. The core argument is that responsibility, not intelligence or capability, is what separates these patterns: a human acting as checksum versus infrastructure having to detect anomalies and enforce boundaries. A simple diagnostic question is proposed: if an AI produces a wrong outcome, who notices first - a person or the system itself - which reveals where ambiguity is allowed to live and what level of auditability, traceability, and safety guarantees are required. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How I Use AI Before the First Line of Code](https://daily.dev/posts/how-i-use-ai-before-the-first-line-of-code-bizabx3ot) · Atomic Spin · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How AI redefines software engineering expertise](https://daily.dev/posts/how-ai-redefines-software-engineering-expertise-3vpdiahts) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The New Definition of Software Engineering in the Age of AI](https://daily.dev/posts/the-new-definition-of-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai-22cijrlz5) · freeCodeCamp · 245 upvotes · 19 comments - [You Are Here](https://daily.dev/posts/you-are-here-efuzybnep) · Reid Burke · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Architecture in the Age of AI: Change and Opportunity](https://daily.dev/posts/architecture-in-the-age-of-ai-change-and-opportunity-xudvcet3p) · InfoQ · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T17:45:20.205Z","dateModified":"2026-10-03T17:36:58.716Z","description":"An architectural framing distinguishes two categories of AI systems: interaction-first systems that sit at the user edge (coding assistants, research tools)...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8b2f7c65f3164f0ea577d6da374abbe2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8b2f7c65f3164f0ea577d6da374abbe2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"AgentField.ai","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AgentField.ai","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VLFHaedl--/f_auto/v1791063152/squads/33beeb91-1f14-4d9b-9cf8-db7d9f69160a?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/agentfield"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-useful-way-to-think-about-where-ai-fits-in-software-d50ar8aeo","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,architecture,mcp","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AgentField.ai","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/agentfield"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A Useful Way to Think About Where AI Fits in Software"}]} ```