Authored by Ryan S. Taylor, CTO, OSIBytes Group
It is exciting to watch artificial intelligence (AI) write a complete computer program in just a few seconds. AI can create code at lightning speed. It can build apps and set up computer networks faster than any human ever could.
But as AI becomes a regular tool for engineers, we have to face a hard truth. In our rush to build things faster, we are forgetting the basic rules of making good software. The main problem with AI is not what it can do; it is that it makes things too complicated.
The Problem with Too Much Code
In computer science, simple is always better. The best and safest systems are the ones that only use exactly what they need. Less truly is more.
AI does not always think this way. When you ask it to solve a problem, an AI will often write a very long and messy answer. It might write fifty lines of code when a human expert would only write five.
When you put this extra code into a computer network, it creates risks. Every unnecessary line of code is a place where a bug can hide or a computer hacker can sneak in. We must ask ourselves this question: Is getting the work done super fast worth the bad code and hidden problems it brings?
The Risk of Guessing
When people talk about the problems with AI, they usually talk about the math and formulas behind it. But the biggest risk is actually that AI can be very unclear.
AI is built to sound completely confident, even when it is just guessing. This is called a "hallucination," and it is very dangerous for computer networks. If an AI writes a vague security rule, it could leave a digital door wide open for trouble. AI does not actually understand why a computer network is built a certain way; it just guesses the next correct word to type. When we let computers guess our network rules, we give control to something that does not really know what it is doing.
Trusting AI Too Much
Perhaps the most surprising part of the AI boom is how quickly people have accepted it. We use AI every day without really checking its work.
We have become so used to it that we trust its answers completely. It is a trap. Because AI is so fast, we let our guard down. We stop reading the code carefully; we stop testing it for errors; we just copy, paste, and hit save.
This is highly ironic. At the bottom of almost every AI screen, there is a very clear warning:
Validate the output. AI can make mistakes.
The computer itself is waving a red flag, begging the user to check the work before using it. Yet, people are so distracted by the speed and convenience that they ignore the warning label completely.
The Right Way to Build
AI is here to stay. It is an amazing tool that can help engineers do great things when used correctly. However, we cannot let speed ruin the quality of our computer systems.
To safely use AI as a coding partner, we must go back to the basics. We must clean up AI's messy code to keep things simple. We must test everything carefully to make sure the AI did not make things up.
Most importantly, we must read the warning label. AI can write the code, but it is the human who must check the facts, keep the system safe, and take the final responsibility. Trust must be earned, line by line.
