Coders are refusing to work without AI — and that could come back to bite them
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Coders refusing to work without AI, directly about AI in SDLC and code quality.
Summary
Developers now refuse to work without AI, as METR found in 2026 when it couldn't replicate a productivity study because participants wouldn't code manually. Yet AI-generated code introduces 1.7x more problems than human code (CodeRabbit) and increases maintenance costs, per James Shore and Singapore Management University. Tokenmaxxing—using token count as a productivity proxy—has backfired, with Amazon shutting its Kirorank leaderboard and Uber exhausting its 2026 AI budget in four months without measurable gains.