The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code: Cognitive Debt and Intent Debt

About this episode

Ankit Jain discusses the hidden costs of AI-generated code with Dr. Margaret-Anne Storey, focusing on cognitive and intent debt in software development.

"I define cognitive debt as being that understanding of what the system is doing and why, and who knows what across the team." In this episode of the HangarDX podcast, Ankit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Aviator, talks to Dr. Margaret-Anne Storey, Professor of Computer Science and Canada Research Chair, about - Why AI is amplifying the problems of poor team understanding - How cognitive debt and intent debt are the hidden risks of building fast with AI, and - Why slowing down might be the most important engineering practice in the age of agents. 00:00 Introduction to Developer Experience and Margaret's Background 02:11 Exploring the SPACE Framework vs. DORA 06:55 Subjectivity in Measuring Developer Productivity 12:15 Impact of AI on Developer Collaboration and Productivity 16:54 Understanding Cognitive and Intent Debt 22:42 Understanding Cognitive Debt in Software Development 26:36 The Impact of Intent Debt on Development 28:07 Measuring Cognitive and Intent Debt 32:20 The Role of AI in Amplifying Challenges 37:24 Balancing Speed and Understanding in Development 📫 Sign up to our email list for more podcasts, articles, events, and other updates: https://www.aviator.co/podcast ✏️…

People in this episode

Host: Ankit Jain

Guest: Dr. Margaret-Anne Storey

Topics covered

• AI-generated code
• cognitive debt
• intent debt
• developer productivity
• team understanding
• engineering practices

Keywords

• AI
• cognitive debt
• intent debt
• developer experience
• software development
• team collaboration
• productivity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aviator, HangarDX, SPACE Framework, DORA

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