Zoho Sridhar Vembu warns engineers over AI coding: ‘Driving too fast in a fancy new car'

Sridhar Vembu, founder of Zoho, has cautioned software engineers against over-reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) in software development. In a post on the social media platform X, Vembu advised engineers to use AI tools without losing their own comprehension of the work. This response came to light following a software engineer's post on X about the extensive use of Anthropic's Claude Code at a large company.

According to the engineer, AI was employed to generate nearly every aspect of the software development process, encompassing specifications, code, tests, product requirement documents (PRDs), tickets, and reports. The engineer expressed dissatisfaction with this situation, stating, "Nobody on my team likes this. They are being forced to ship as much as they can."

Vembu responded with strong disapproval, asserting, "This is sad. I tell our engineers to use AI but never cede our understanding to AI." He further warned that companies might be adopting AI-powered coding tools too hastily, potentially leading to unforeseen consequences. He emphasized that the industry was driving too aggressively, akin to driving a powerful car without full understanding of its operation, which could result in disaster.

The engineer's post also highlighted the pressure to produce more code, facilitated by AI, which was causing long working hours, often exceeding 12 to 13 hours per day. Much of this time was spent managing AI tools rather than focusing on writing or understanding the code. The engineer lamented the lack of time to examine what AI produced, understand the system's workings, or derive any sense of accomplishment.

They noted that there was little room for thought, as everything was being handled by large language models (LLMs). The engineer expressed frustration, saying, "There is no sense of victory. Nobody is resolving bugs. In reality, nobody is thinking anymore. Everything is done by LLMs. It is so soul-sucking. I would not mind it, to be honest, if we were at least given the time to check out the code and see what is going where.

But no, the goal is to just ship. No matter what happens," underscoring the detrimental impact of such practices on developers' well-being and understanding of their work.