Owning Code in the Age of AI
March 10, 2026
Software engineering is going through a shift that feels small on the surface but changes something fundamental: code is no longer scarce.
For decades, writing software was constrained by human typing speed and cognitive load. Engineers produced code at roughly the same pace they could understand it. That relationship shaped our entire culture: code reviews, ownership models, testing philosophies, and even how we thought about responsibility.
Today a single engineer can generate thousands of lines of code in minutes. Features that once took days can appear in an afternoon. Small teams suddenly move at the speed that used to require entire organizations. And the uncomfortable reality is this: not using AI is no longer a real option. A team that refuses AI assistance will simply move slower than a team that embraces it.
But this acceleration raises a question I keep coming back to. If AI is producing most of the code, what does it mean to “own” it?
All software engineers are at some stage of grappling with this question–who owns the code-in essence who is responsible for the code written by agents systems at our behest?
No answers, just a lot of questions–which is as it should be right now.
