AI Coding Boosts Productivity but Risks Debt Crisis

Aug 20, 2025
MIT Sloan Management Review
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Summary

Generative AI boosts coding productivity by up to 55% but creates dangerous technical debt when deployed carelessly in legacy systems, risking costly system failures if organizations fail to establish clear guidelines, prioritize debt management, and train developers for responsible AI use.

Key Points

  • Generative AI boosts coding productivity by up to 55%, but creates dangerous technical debt when deployed carelessly
  • In brownfield environments with legacy systems, AI-generated code compounds existing problems when used by inexperienced developers
  • To avoid costly system failures, organizations must establish clear guidelines, prioritize technical debt management, and train developers for responsible AI use

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