--- title: The AI skeptics are changing sides... | daily.dev description: A YouTube-style commentary tracks how several prominent, previously AI-skeptical developers have shifted toward embracing AI-generated code. Notch (Minecraft... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The AI skeptics are changing sides... | daily.dev og:description: A YouTube-style commentary tracks how several prominent, previously AI-skeptical developers have shifted toward embracing AI-generated code. Notch (Minecraft... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ZXFr5VTnM.png og:image:alt: The AI skeptics are changing sides... 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. # The AI skeptics are changing sides... **[Awesome](https://daily.dev/sources/awesome-coding)** · 8 min read · 30 upvotes · 6 comments ## Summary A YouTube-style commentary tracks how several prominent, previously AI-skeptical developers have shifted toward embracing AI-generated code. Notch (Minecraft creator) went from calling AI coding advocates 'incompetent or evil' to enjoying vibe coding within months. Martin Odersky (Scala) argues reviewing mountains of AI code is near-impossible and proposes stronger interface contracts and capability-based restrictions instead. DHH announced 37signals has gone 'pencils down,' treating hand-written code as exceptional and betting a HEY rewrite on Rust despite disliking the language, while also admitting a Base Camp 5 feature built by AI produced bad architecture that required full manual review. Linus Torvalds reaffirmed Linux is not anti-AI, judging AI code-review tools on technical merit. Salvatore Sanfilippo (Redis) still spent four months designing, reading, and stress-testing a new array type despite his generally pro-LLM stance. The presenter's takeaway: vibe coding is fine for throwaway projects, but anyone shipping production code still needs to stay fully involved. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did DHH say 37signals went 'pencils down' on writing code by hand? DHH announced at Rails World that hand-written code is now an exceptional state at 37signals; if an AI agent cannot produce what's needed, the response is to fix the process so the agent can do it next time, treating agent failure as a human skill issue rather than a reason to write code manually. _Developers weighing how far to lean on AI agents can follow this debate as it plays out on daily.dev._ ### How long did Salvatore Sanfilippo spend building the new Redis array type with LLM help? Salvatore Sanfilippo spent about four months building a new array type for Redis, writing a detailed specification, working through the design with LLMs, then reading the generated code line by line, finding inefficiencies and design choices he changed before stress testing the result. _Anyone deciding how much to trust AI-generated code in production systems can track real examples like this on daily.dev._ ### What does Martin Odersky propose to make reviewing AI-generated code manageable? Martin Odersky suggests focusing on interfaces and types so AI is given a contract a human can understand and review, rather than relying on the language itself to enforce correctness. He also argues programmers should define requirements more precisely and use capabilities to limit what generated code can access, such as files and secrets, since current type systems have escape hatches like casts and unsafe memory access. _Engineers rethinking code review workflows around AI output can keep up with ideas like this on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@kunozoltner** · 1 upvotes > Time to learn plumbing **@notalizard\_really** · 1 upvotes > The last line more or less sums it up but I'd change it a bit: > > > AI is fine for cheap fixes, but if you want craftsmanship and innovation, humans can't be beat. > > > Of course this only really applies when the dev is passionate about the project. **@diyweb** · 0 upvotes > The Odersky point is the one that sticks. If nobody can realistically review mountains of generated code, stronger interfaces and contracts are probably where the real engineering effort moves. **@byteoutlaw** · 0 upvotes > Yeah it is still hard to comprehend! **@devgenx** · 0 upvotes > There is a difference between writing code and designing software, and that difference is why humans are still needed. It is also a difference LLMs will never solve... at least not in my lifetime. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Linus Torvalds: Vibe coding is fine, but not for production](https://daily.dev/posts/linus-torvalds-vibe-coding-is-fine-but-not-for-production-rvk4ab0mh) · The Register · 413 upvotes · 26 comments - [Reports of code's death are greatly exaggerated](https://daily.dev/posts/reports-of-code-s-death-are-greatly-exaggerated-3336mspgf) · Hacker News · 14 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm) ```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":"The AI skeptics are changing sides...","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm"},"datePublished":"2026-10-09T09:29:06.615Z","dateModified":"2026-10-09T09:29:28.374Z","description":"A YouTube-style commentary tracks how several prominent, previously AI-skeptical developers have shifted toward embracing AI-generated code. 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If nobody can realistically review mountains of generated code, stronger interfaces and contracts are probably where the real engineering effort moves.","datePublished":"2026-10-11T13:29:59.073Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ZXFr5VTnM#c-9sXD21TqP","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"DiyWeb","url":"https://daily.dev/diyweb","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--dgS6jDeN--/f_auto/v1790879420/avatars/avatar_774zDwMaRTNS1fv5OKStX?_a=BAMAMicg0"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Yeah it is still hard to comprehend!","datePublished":"2026-10-09T15:11:15.788Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ZXFr5VTnM#c-bKBvSSZuC","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacob B. Bonde","url":"https://daily.dev/byteoutlaw","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--veTChHK7--/f_auto/v1733220070/avatars/avatar_5cQvIZKr5tDFDotVDjulg"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"There is a difference between writing code and designing software, and that difference is why humans are still needed. It is also a difference LLMs will never solve… at least not in my lifetime.","datePublished":"2026-10-09T15:37:59.446Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ZXFr5VTnM#c-N6eIMFY7j","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"GenXdev","url":"https://daily.dev/devgenx","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--PrWOWtSq--/f_auto/v1789486214/avatars/avatar_ytCVp6dQicn9P0yKfhQCI?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-skeptics-are-changing-sides--zxfr5vtnm#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did DHH say 37signals went 'pencils down' on writing code by hand?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"DHH announced at Rails World that hand-written code is now an exceptional state at 37signals; if an AI agent cannot produce what's needed, the response is to fix the process so the agent can do it next time, treating agent failure as a human skill issue rather than a reason to write code manually. 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