Exploratory AI coding, or 'vibe coding,' proved catastrophic for production environments. The most effective developers adapted by treating AI like a junior engineer, providing lightweight specifications, tests, and guardrails to ensure the output was viable and reliable.
MCP emerged as a critical standard for AI agents to interact with tools, much like USB-C for hardware. However, its rapid adoption overlooked security, leading to significant vulnerabilities like tool poisoning and prompt injection attacks in its early, widespread implementations.
While developers leverage multiple AI agents to achieve massive productivity gains, this velocity can create incomprehensible and tightly coupled software architectures. The antidote is not less AI but more human-led structure, including modularity, rapid feedback loops, and clear specifications.