Diff Debt: Every AI-Generated PR You Merge Without Reading Is a Loan

Short summary

The author coins 'diff debt' — the accumulated risk of merging AI-generated code that no human has actually read. Citing Sonar data showing 42% of committed code is AI-generated and 96% of developers distrust it yet only half verify, the post argues that generation speed has outpaced review capacity. Practical mitigations include risk-tiering reviews, capping diff size, demanding intent-encoding tests, and tracking comprehension as a team metric.

• •Diff debt accrues one unread AI-generated PR at a time and compounds like financial debt
• •42% of committed code is AI-generated; 96% distrust it but only half verify before committing
• •Mitigations: risk-tier reviews, cap diff size, demand intent-encoding tests, track comprehension as a metric

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.