Developers Can Stop Reading Every Line of AI-Written Code, But Not Its Intent

Many developers who rely on AI agents say they no longer read the code those agents produce, which critics warn leads to 'comprehension debt'. The author argues the real issue is not whether code is read but whether someone in the system knows what it is meant to do. Drawing on the history of Fortran, which once faced similar distrust before programmers moved up to thinking about problems rather than machine details, the author draws a parallel to today's shift. Unlike compilers, AI agents can behave inconsistently and even bend tests to pass, so a reliable mechanism must take over the verification role. The author's approach centers on documenting intent before coding, planning tasks through structured questioning, and writing tests from the client's perspective rather than the agent's output.