> It should serve as a warning to developers that the code doesn’t seem to matter, even in a product built for developers.

Code doesn't matter IN THE EARLY DAYS.

This is similar to what I've observed over 25 years in the industry. In a startup, the code doesn't really matter; the market fit does.

But as time goes on your codebase has to mature, or else you end up using more and more resources on maintenance rather than innovation.

AI makes the entirety of the software engineering profession available to you. All you have to do is ask the right way, and you can build in days what once took months or years.

Decompiling and re-engineering proprietary code has never been easier. You almost don't even need the source code anymore. The object code can be examined by your LLM, and binary patches applied.

Closed source is no longer the moat it was, and so keeping the source code to yourself is only going to hurt you as people pass you over for companies who realize this, and strive to make it easier for your LLM to figure their systems out.

You don't have to. Just like you don't have to support Amazon for web services and file stores.

Or Oracle for databases.

Or Microsoft for operating systems.

Or DEC for computers.

There are perfectly good open source LLMs and agents out there, which are getting better by the day (especially after the recent leak!)

> The giant plagiarism machines have already stolen everything. Copyright is dead. Licenses are washed away in clean rooms.

Isn't this what the free software movement wanted? Code available to all?

Yes, code is cheap now. That's the new reality. Your value lies elsewhere.

You can lament the loss of your usefulness as a horse buggy mechanic, or you can adapt your knowledge and experience and use it towards those newfangled automobiles.