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AI and Technical Debt | Electronic Design
Managing Technical Debt with AI?
As noted, AI may be able to help check and potentially fix issues related to technical debt. Still, care must be taken when using AI tools, as they could just as easily worsen the problem.
AI tends to be great at pattern matching as well as identifying inconsistencies. So, using it to help developers determine where issues exist, the costs of leaving it in place, and what it will take to change it, are potentially answers that will be easier to obtain using AI.
However, there are many challenges. Most AI systems these days are changing rapidly to versions that are purported to be better. While that may be true, this will alter how prompts, processes, etc., will be changed because the underlying engine is different.
Too much dependency and little oversight can also be an issue. That’s because the checking and improvement now has its own technical debt, and, as we have seen, AI can create lots of slop a lot faster than people.
On the plus side, agentic and generative AI is able to provide the tools and management of the development and review process. Just remember to keep a real eye on it.
