---
title: "Will you go to prison for an AI?"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/will-you-go-to-prison-for-an-ai--pheo5pflo
source_url: https://blog.ploeh.dk/2026/03/23/will-you-go-to-prison-for-an-ai/
type: article
source: "ploeh blog"
published: 2026-03-23T06:24:44.323Z
updated: 2026-03-23T06:25:04.696Z
tags: ["llm", "vibe-coding"]
reading_time: 3
upvotes: 12
comments: 3
language: 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.

# Will you go to prison for an AI?

**[ploeh blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ploeh)** · 3 min read · 12 upvotes · 3 comments

## Summary

Mark Seemann raises the question of legal and professional accountability when developers use LLMs or agentic AI to write code unsupervised. He argues that if AI-generated code causes financial loss or physical harm, neither the LLM providers nor management will absorb the blame — the individual engineer will. Using the Volkswagen emissions scandal as a precedent, where an engineer was sentenced to prison, he warns that developers who deploy AI-written code without proper oversight could face serious legal consequences. He is skeptical that testing alone, especially AI-generated tests, resolves the fundamental problem of not understanding the code you ship.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://blog.ploeh.dk/2026/03/23/will-you-go-to-prison-for-an-ai/>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@elmarchavez** · 3 upvotes

> This hits the topic of accountability. But I believe it is still not the AI that will take the fall but the one who uses it blindly. No AI is perfect, else everyone and their babies are developers today. The point being, like with every other tool, the one who holds it will be the one held accountable.

**@design\_like\_bro** · 0 upvotes

> If I have been given a certain task, No matter if I use LLM or even Jr. developer the accountable person always will be me. Because either I let it through or I am too stupid to understand so yeah.

**@andersgravgaardjensen** · 0 upvotes

> I am accountable for what I deliver, regardless of the tools I choose to use.

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---

Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding)

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