What AI Can’t Do (Yet)—And Why That’s a Good Thing
The most valuable developer skills are still deeply human.
A few weeks ago, I watched an AI model generate over 10,000 lines of functional code in just a few hours. It was wild. Scaffolding, APIs, tests, even UI—it all came together faster than I thought possible.
But something unexpected happened:
Even though the code looked good, I couldn’t trust it.
Not completely. Not yet.
AI is getting scary good at execution. But there’s a core truth I keep coming back to:
It still can’t make the important decisions.
It can’t tell you what’s worth building.
It can’t spot a subtle UX red flag.
It can’t feel what a confused user feels.
That’s not a flaw—it’s a boundary.
And it’s exactly where we still matter most.
What AI Can Do
Let’s give it credit. LLMs can:
Scaffold working features from prompts
Summarize code, generate tests
Handle boilerplate and integrations
If you’re a developer, AI is the fastest intern you’ve ever had.
But it’s not a product strategist. Or a UX designer. Or a user.
What It Still Can’t Do
🧠 Long-Term Context
AI has a short memory. You don’t.
You know how tech debt from six months ago will come back to bite.
🎨 Taste
AI can mimic style, but not develop it.
It can’t recognize when something’s technically “fine” but feels wrong.
🧑⚖️ Judgment
Should you cut that feature? Delay the launch? Kill the project entirely?
AI can’t weigh tradeoffs. You can.
❤️ Empathy
You’ve been the confused user. The frustrated one.
AI has never felt that. It can simulate emotion, but not experience it.
Why That’s Good News
If you’re a developer worried about being replaced, here’s the optimistic take:
The real value isn’t in typing fast. It’s in thinking clearly.
You don’t need to out-code the machine.
You need to out-sense it.
Taste, judgment, empathy, long-term thinking—those aren’t bugs in the human system.
They’re the features that AI can’t copy.
So no, AI isn’t taking your job.
But it is changing what your job actually is.
You’re not just a builder anymore.
You’re a curator. An editor. A product thinker with taste.
That’s the future I’m building toward—and if you’re on that journey too, stick around.