Quoting Paul Ford
- ID
- 23844
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 13 Sep 2026, 2:00 AM
- Fetched
- 13 Sep 2026, 2:53 AM
- Provider
- Simon Willison
- Category
- developer-ai
- Original URL
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/12/paul-ford/
- Source URL
- https://simonwillison.net/atom/everything/
Summary
- Score
- 5.5
- Created
- 13 Sep 2026, 2:53 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coderssaas_founders
What happened
Simon Willison surfaced a Paul Ford quote arguing that AI can write good software but also 'makes it easy to do someone else's job badly,' which is why many AI-driven projects fail. Ford's punchline: 'Now that everyone can code, it's become clearer why many shouldn't.'
Why it matters
For builders shipping AI-assisted projects, the takeaway is not that AI is useless but that domain judgment still determines whether generated code solves the right problem. If you are a vibe coder or founder relying on AI output without the craft to evaluate it, you are the failure mode Ford is describing.
Discussion angle
Ask the room: which of your recent AI-assisted projects failed because the AI let you attempt work outside your actual competence — and what would you have done differently if you had no AI at all?