Let's start with an analogy, because everybody loves that. You come to your kitchen and find a puddle of water forming around the sink. You call a plumber, takes a look, and gives you the verdict that you were dreading: "Your draining pipes are done for, you'd have to rip it all out and rebuild from scratch. I'd have to check properly but I'm estimating that it's going to be about $2,000 to fix" "Damn, replacing my entire drainage system wasn't in my bingo card this morning.

It would appear that, with AI, everyone is trying to go for the moonshot, the magical combination of elements that will make code write itself autonomously, reliably, sustainably and, more than anything, cheaply. This is not a new idea, and it's not working. Look, I get it, I understand the allure of the moonshot: breaking new ground, creating new paradigms, featuring as the celebrated hero on the front page of Times Magazine. After all, if you're not disrupting an industry,