Software Engineering Daily · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Cory Doctorow highlights the paradox of AI in the workplace where some skilled workers report enhanced productivity, while others describe increased tech debt and worse working conditions. He attributes this to the 'centaur' versus 'reverse centaur' dynamic, where the former uses AI as a tool and the latter is controlled by it.
“Which is that you find people who are skilled practitioners of their art, who are reliably narrators of their experience who say, I've taken up AI in my practice. I produce better outputs than I ever thought possible. I'm so excited to have these wonderful new tools.”
“And then you have other workers, equally skilled, equally accomplished, equally reliable narrating their experiences who say, my God, you would not believe how much tech debt we are producing and the scale at which we are producing it.”