AI did not invent cognitive debt. It made it invisible.

This article discusses the concept of 'codebase cognitive debt' highlighted in Thoughtworks Technology Radar Vol 34. It argues that while cognitive debt existed before AI, AI assistants now make it invisible by generating code that developers accept without fully understanding. The article illustrates this with a real-world example of a senior engineer unable to explain his own AI-assisted code. It warns that this lack of mental model leads to systems that are harder to debug, evolve, and reason about. The radar places this as 'Caution', advising teams to slow down rather than experiment. The piece is relevant to IT/technology, focusing on software development practices, AI's impact on code quality, and technical debt.