AI Made Coding Cheaper. So Why Is Building Software Still So Expensive?

Description and use

AI speeds up code writing but increases delivery time due to higher review, integration, and maintenance costs.

Problem

AI-generated code is fast to produce but leads to costly review, integration, and maintenance work, keeping overall software delivery time high.

Outcome

The AI-generated code reduced writing time but increased overall delivery time due to higher review effort, integration problems, and maintenance costs.

Workflow

• 1. Prompt AI tool to generate feature code.
• 2. Submit AI-generated code as a pull request.
• 3. Team members review the code, uncover subtle edge cases and legacy incompatibilities.
• 4. Debug, rollback, and rewrite portions of the code to fit production environment.
• 5. Deploy the corrected code and monitor for issues.

Evidence

I fired up Cursor (or your AI tool of choice), typed a detailed prompt, and watched the code materialize on my screen.

Source

It took my teammate two days to review it. Not because the code was wrong, but because the AI had introduced a subtle edge case in the caching logic that neither of us initially understood.

Source

We spent the next week debugging, rolling back, and rewriting the "perfect" AI-generated code to fit our actual, messy production environment.

Source

Writing the code was never the expensive part. It was always the cheapest part.

Source