What David Crawshaw thinks about code generation

@david-crawshaw · 19 positions · On ppll ↗

Software engineer; co-founder and former CTO of Tailscale, previously on the Go team at Google.

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Only David Crawshaw on code generation. See everyone on code generation

2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what David Crawshaw has said — not written or endorsed by them.

2 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

1. 7 May 2026

   Our readingCode review as a review mechanism depends on reviewers being able to infer effort from reading code, and AI-agent-generated code erases that signal.

   Their wordsthe reviewer is the principal, the contributor is the agent, and code review only worked because the reviewer could cheaply infer effort from reading the code. Agents collapse that signal.

   ↗The agent principal-agent problemcrawshaw.io 1st of 3 in this piece

2. 2 weeks earlier

3. 22 Apr 2026

   Our readingMaking code easier to write will lead to much more software being created overall.

   Their wordsAgents, by making it easiest to write code, means there will be a lot more software.

   ↗I am building a cloudcrawshaw.io 3rd of 3 in this piece