--- title: AI cuts software developers some slack | daily.dev description: An opinion piece applies Parkinson's Law and the Jevons Paradox to AI-assisted coding productivity gains, arguing that developers becoming five times faster... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI cuts software developers some slack | daily.dev og:description: An opinion piece applies Parkinson's Law and the Jevons Paradox to AI-assisted coding productivity gains, arguing that developers becoming five times faster... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/eSG9W0ZQq.png og:image:alt: AI cuts software developers some slack 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. # AI cuts software developers some slack **[InfoWorld](https://daily.dev/sources/infoworld)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An opinion piece applies Parkinson's Law and the Jevons Paradox to AI-assisted coding productivity gains, arguing that developers becoming five times faster with coding agents will initially create free time ('dark leisure') before that time gets absorbed by increased demand for software, more complex products, and faster-accumulating technical debt. The author draws a parallel to how easier tools like Delphi and Visual Basic made Windows app development simpler, which led to more and increasingly complex applications rather than fewer developers. The conclusion is that firms will want more output rather than fewer developers, and that the underlying pattern of work expanding to fill available time will persist. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Stop worrying: Instead, imagine software developers’ next great pivot](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-worrying-instead-imagine-software-developers-next-great-pivot-1powuabgn) · InfoWorld · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [Jevons Paradox Shouldn’t Comfort You](https://daily.dev/posts/jevons-paradox-shouldn-t-comfort-you-rozdmi8xu) · Embedded Artistry · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Efficiency Paradox: Why Making Software Easier to Write Means We'll Write Exponentially More](https://daily.dev/posts/the-efficiency-paradox-why-making-software-easier-to-write-means-we-ll-write-exponentially-more-1g6hm4jaa) · Addy Osmani · 7 upvotes · 4 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#technical-debt](https://daily.dev/tags/technical-debt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq) ```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":"AI cuts software developers some slack","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq"},"datePublished":"2026-09-30T09:06:32.553Z","dateModified":"2026-09-30T09:11:19.326Z","description":"An opinion piece applies Parkinson's Law and the Jevons Paradox to AI-assisted coding productivity gains, arguing that developers becoming five times faster...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/edc2b2161f3bfabc9184c60adddcaf97?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/edc2b2161f3bfabc9184c60adddcaf97?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"InfoWorld","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":"InfoWorld","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/bf6d68a999064029b0bb09aa6268f1f3","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/infoworld"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-cuts-software-developers-some-slack-esg9w0zqq","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"productivity,ai-coding,technical-debt","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"InfoWorld","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/infoworld"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI cuts software developers some slack"}]} ```