In a quotation collected by Simon Willison and posted on 12th August 2026, Florian Herrengt describes a scenario from a piece titled 'AI is removing the middle class of software engineering.' Herrengt outlines a situation in which users report a bug that a team repeatedly attempts to fix by asking AI, in this case a tool referred to as Fable, without success. In the passage, a developer who worked on the feature responds to a question about the bug by saying, 'Hmm... actually I don't know. Let me ask Claude.' Herrengt describes two people watching 'an endless wall of text appear on the screen,' noting that 'neither of you has any idea whether any of it is true but Claude seems very confident.' The quotation concludes that the project 'has become so convoluted, with so many layers and services, that no one on your team could possibly start to understand what's going on.' The excerpt was surfaced through Simon Willison's site, which collects quotations. The full argument appears in Herrengt's original article. This entry is based on the excerpt as published, not the complete piece.
- Quotation collected by Simon Willison, posted 12th August 2026
- Source article: Florian Herrengt, 'AI is removing the middle class of software engineering'
- Describes a team unable to understand AI-generated code across many layers and services
What it means for you
When you lean on AI to write and fix code without anyone actually understanding it, you can end up with software that works until it breaks — and then nobody, including the AI, can explain why. This is a real risk for small businesses that hire cheaply or use AI tools to build apps and internal systems without keeping a human who genuinely understands the result.
Try this
If you're paying for custom software or building it with AI tools, ask whoever's responsible one question this week: 'If this breaks in six months, who understands it well enough to fix it?' If the honest answer is 'no one,' treat that as a problem to solve now, not later.
Who should care
Small-business owners commissioning custom software, apps, or internal tools — especially those built quickly with AI assistance by contractors or non-specialist staff.
Skip this if
You don't own or commission any custom-built software, or you already have a person who understands and maintains your systems.
Sources: Simon Willison — read the original