Debugging AI code is the new debugging legacy code
Most devs say AI code takes more time to debug than to write. Welcome to legacy code that is two days old and nobody remembers writing it
66% of developers in Stack Overflow's 2025 survey say they spend more time fixing "almost-right" AI code than they would writing it from scratch. That figure means only one thing: AI code is the new legacy code, except it's two days old and no one remembers writing it
The legacy code feeling
You open a function. It works. You don't know why. You change one thing. Three other things break. You reverse it. The tests still pass, even though the function is broken. It used to take 10 years to build that. Now it takes a Tuesday afternoon with the wrong prompt
The missing context
When a person writes code, they leave a trace in their mind. They remember why they chose the variable name, why they shorted the loop, why the early return is there. The model leaves no trace. Two days later, it's someone else's code, even if that someone else is you
The fix is to read what the model wrote
Senior vibe coders treat every AI diff like a PR from a stranger. They read every line. They ask why. They reject suggestions on instinct. The result is code they can still debug six months from now because they really understood it the first time