Mark & Carl talk with Swizec Teller about using AI at work

Mark & Carl talk with Swizec Teller about using AI at work

From This Month in React by Reactiflux; with Mark Erikson, Mo Khazali, and Carl Vitullo

May 7, 2026 · 1h 4m · Season 3 · Episode 4

About this episode

Mark and Carl discuss the integration of AI tools in software development with guest Swizec Teller.

Transcript ★ Support this podcast ★ Reply on Bluesky (00:00) - This Month in React April (00:26) - Introductions (02:36) - What convinced you AI code tools were worth using? (04:24) - Using early ChatGPT for DB migrations (06:59) - Watching AI use a command-line (08:16) - Background chat agents (08:58) - Staying very hands-on while using AI tools (11:00) - Driving AI closely without reading its code (17:50) - Mark's workflow; OpenCode with CodeNomad UI, plus IDE+git UI. Opus 4.6 on API (20:39) - Swizec's workflow, latest Cursor on Opus (23:58) - Carl's workflow, mostly ClaudeCode but looking at custom orchestrators (25:23) - Exploring fully autonomous agents (28:08) - Mark's AI debugging work in React core (31:42) - Value of providing more context (33:58) - AI-owned documentation (37:09) - Using good engineering practices still matters? (40:47) - How do you know the right code to make? (42:49) - Good communication still matters (45:13) - What will "review" look like in the future? (46:17) - Automating functionality tests with deployment practices (51:49) - What behaviors belong to the agent, and what fundamentally can't be part of the agent? (56:17) - Impacts of LLMs on software…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mark Erikson, Mo Khazali, Carl Vitullo

Guest: Swizec Teller

Topics covered

  • AI in software development
  • workflow automation
  • code tools
  • engineering practices
  • communication in tech
  • future of code review

Keywords

  • AI tools
  • software engineering
  • ChatGPT
  • code migration
  • autonomous agents
  • debugging
  • engineering practices

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenCode, CodeNomad, Cursor, ClaudeCode, Opus, React, AI, LLMs

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