James ReadAI tools are moving fast—from fancy autocomplete to fully autonomous development teams.
The real question isn’t whether to use AI, but how much autonomy to give it.
I put together a simple 0–5 model to describe these levels of autonomy in practice:
https://blog.jread.com/posts/ai-levels-of-autonomy-in-software-engineering/
AI Levels of Autonomy in Software Engineering
AI tooling for software engineering has moved quickly from fancy autocomplete to the verge of fully autonomous engineering. Most people can see that AI adds value. The real question is no longer whether to use AI, but how much autonomy to give it. Capability alone doesn’t justify maximising autonomy everywhere. You have to match autonomy to risk. This post defines a simple scale of autonomy levels and where I draw my own lines.