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[The Era of the Builder: How AI is Redefining Software Engineering]-[Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny]

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth · B2 · 2026-02-19

Technology
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📋 Summary

The End of Coding as We Know It

In a conversation that marks a significant milestone in the evolution of technology, Boris Cherny, Head of Cloud Code at Anthropic, describes a reality that seemed like science fiction only a year ago: he has not written a single line of code by hand since November. Instead, his work is entirely powered by AI agents. This transition is not an isolated experiment; it represents a fundamental shift in the software industry where the traditional role of a "software engineer" is being replaced by that of a "builder."

The Rise of Agentic AI

Cherny explains that the transformation of his daily workflow—shipping 10 to 30 pull requests every single day—is driven by agentic AI. Unlike early conversational bots, these agents are capable of tool use, meaning they can interact with the world, run commands, and execute tasks autonomously.

Key to this shift is the concept of "Cloud Code," a project that started as a small internal hack and has since scaled to account for a massive percentage of global GitHub commits. Cherny notes that the growth of these agents is not just linear; it is exponential. As the models improve, they are no longer just coding partners; they are increasingly acting as coworkers, analyzing bug reports, triaging telemetry, and proactively suggesting fixes.

The "Bitter Lesson" and Underfunding

One of the most counter-intuitive insights from the episode is the strategy of "underfunding" projects. Cherny argues that by putting only one or two engineers on a problem, you force them to rely on AI to scale their output. This creates an environment where productivity per engineer has increased by 200%.

He invokes the "Bitter Lesson" principle, suggesting that developers should always bet on the most general, capable models (like Opus 4.6) rather than trying to over-optimize or constrain the AI with rigid scaffolding. "Don't try to box the model in," he advises. By giving the model the tools and the freedom to decide its own path, engineers achieve superior results compared to those who try to micromanage the AI’s workflow.

Redefining the Profession

As coding becomes "largely solved," the value of a developer is shifting. The technical minutia—navigating Git, managing dependencies, and debugging syntax—is becoming secondary. The new frontier is interdisciplinary: the most effective builders are those who can synthesize design, product sense, and business logic.

Cherny draws a striking historical parallel to the printing press. Just as the printing press democratized literacy by moving it from a small circle of elite scribes to the general population, AI is democratizing software creation. In a few years, he predicts, the ability to program will be as universal as the ability to read and write. The title "Software Engineer" may soon disappear, replaced by a broader understanding of what it means to build.

Safety and the "Race to the Top"

Anthropic’s approach to this rapid change is rooted in safety. Cherny highlights three layers of safety:

  1. Mechanistic Interpretability: Peering into the "brain" of the model to understand how neurons encode concepts like deception or planning.
  2. Evals: Testing models in laboratory settings to ensure alignment.
  3. Real-world Deployment: Releasing products like "Cowork" as research previews to study how AI behaves in the wild.

By open-sourcing tools like their sandbox environments, Anthropic aims to foster a "race to the top," encouraging other labs to prioritize safety as they push the boundaries of what these agents can do.

Conclusion: The Future of Work

The podcast concludes with a reflection on the human side of this technological wave. While the shift is disruptive and may cause anxiety for many, Cherny remains optimistic. He notes that for himself and many others, AI has made work "delightful again" by removing the tedious parts of the job.

For those looking to stay ahead, his advice is simple: experiment relentlessly, become a generalist, and embrace the frontier. As we move toward a world where anyone can build software, the focus will shift from how to write code to what is worth building. Whether or not the future leads to AGI, the lesson remains clear: the tools are here, they are powerful, and they are changing the nature of creation itself.

🎯Key Sentences

1
I have not edited a single line by hand since November.
2
Every day I ship 10, 20, 30 pull requests.
3
In a year or two, it's not going to matter.
4
Anyone can just build software anytime.
5
I think by the end of the year, everyone's going to be a product manager and everyone codes.
Expand All

📝Key Phrases

1
deal with all the minutia
2
largely solved
3
go away
4
completely transformed
5
massive driver
Expand All

📖 Transcript

100% of my code is written by cloud code.
I have not edited a single line by hand since November.
Every day I ship 10, 20, 30 pull requests.
So like at the moment I have like five agents running.
While we're recording this?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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