How Much of the Work Do You Hand to AI?
This post is about the different ways you can use AI when you build software, organized by how much of the work you hand over. There isn't a correct amount. It depends on what you find hard, what you find boring and what you actually enjoy doing, and that changes from task to task.
Think of it as a dial. At one end AI only looks at what you wrote. At the other end you describe the goal and manage the result. Most people end up parked somewhere in the middle and turning it up or down depending on the day.
Level 1, AI Reviews What You Wrote
You write everything yourself and AI is the second pair of eyes. It's good at catching what you stop seeing after a few hours with the same diff, like an input nobody tried, a missing error path or a test that doesn't test anything.
Something like "Read this change and list every input or state that could break it."
It only knows what you show it, so tell it the history behind a decision if that matters. This is the easiest level to start at because the way you work stays the same.
Level 2, AI Does the Chores
Boilerplate, config files, one-off scripts, renames across dozens of files, CI fixes and migrations. None of it is hard, it just eats an afternoon. This is where AI pays for itself fastest.
Something like "Write a script that renames these files to match the new pattern and show me what it would change before it runs."
Ask to see what it will do before it does it. That one habit catches most of the bad surprises, and it matters most for anything you can't easily undo.
Level 3, AI Is Your Sounding Board
Design is the part some people love and some people avoid. If you're in the second group, AI can lay out the options so you aren't staring at a blank page. If you're in the first, it's still a cheap way to poke holes in your own idea before you build it.
Something like "Here's what I'm trying to build and what I can't change. What are my options and what does each one cost me?"
Then ask it to argue against its own favorite. You make the call, because it will happily recommend something that looks tidy and doesn't fit your situation.
Level 4, AI Writes What You Designed
You decide how it's shaped and AI does the typing. The classes, the endpoints and the data model come from you, and it fills in the code.
Something like "Here's the design. Build the service layer first, match the style of the files in this folder and stop when the tests pass."
The tighter the design you hand over, the less you fix afterwards. Read all of it anyway. You're the one who has to explain it later.
Level 5, AI Runs It and You Manage
This is the far end. You describe the goal and what done looks like, then AI breaks it down, builds it and checks its own work while you steer. The job becomes writing a clear brief and reviewing results.
Something like "Here's the goal and what done looks like. Break it into steps, do them in order and tell me when you hit something you're unsure about."
It works when there are tests that can say whether it's finished. Vague goals wander. Keep the steps small and look after each one.
Smaller Things Worth Trying
A few uses don't fit on the dial but are worth knowing about.
- Ask it to explain code you've never seen, like how a request flows through a service you just inherited.
- Let it turn your rough notes into docs, summaries or a first draft, then rewrite it until it sounds like you.
- Have it generate test data, including the strange inputs you wouldn't think to type.
- Use it for debugging. Paste the error and the surrounding code and ask where it would look first, then check that before you trust it.
- Talk through an idea out loud before building it. The questions it asks back are half the value.
Finding Your Own Level
If something is hard or boring, turn the dial up for that task. If you enjoy it or want to get better at it, turn it down and use AI lightly. Pay attention to which tasks you're glad you handed off and which ones you wish you'd done yourself, and over a few weeks you'll have your own setting.
If you don't know where to start, start at level 1. Nothing else about your day changes and you'll quickly find out what it catches and what it misses.