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Sign inYour team now ships code that an AI wrote much of. That code is fluent, confident, and sometimes subtly wrong. Reviewing it well — without either rubber-stamping or banning it — is a core new skill for the lead.
Where AI code fails differently
Plausible but wrong
Looks idiomatic, handles the happy path, misses the edge case.
Invented APIs
Calls methods/params that don’t exist or changed versions.
Silent assumptions
Assumes input shape, timezone, units the author never checked.
Security blind spots
Misses authz, injection, secret handling the prompt didn’t mention.
A review stance that scales
- 1Make the author own it: "AI wrote it" is not a defence. They explain it.
- 2Review behaviour and tests, not just the diff — does it do the right thing?
- 3Probe the edges: nulls, empties, concurrency, failure paths.
- 4Check it fits the codebase’s patterns, not just that it runs.
✓
Tests are the contract
Insist that AI-assisted changes come with tests that pin the intended behaviour. A passing, meaningful test suite lets you review intent, not just syntax — and lets the team move fast safely.
Takeaway
AI code fails plausibly. Make authors own it, review behaviour + tests + edges + fit — not just whether it compiles. Tests are how you keep velocity without rubber-stamping.