Fred Pope https://www.fredpope.com/blog Builder and investor in Colorado. Exploring the connections between software, business, and economics. Writing to think. en-us fred@fredpope.com (Fred Pope) fred@fredpope.com (Fred Pope) Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.fredpope.com/blog/ai/ai-always-takes-the-shortest-path The AI Always Takes the Shortest Path. That's the Problem. https://www.fredpope.com/blog/ai/ai-always-takes-the-shortest-path A field report from the frontlines of AI-assisted development at scale — why language models optimize locally, how that corrupts architecture over time, and what I am doing about it. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT fred@fredpope.com (Fred Pope) aiarchitecturesoftware-engineeringcode-qualityscaling https://www.fredpope.com/blog/development/enduring-craft-software-fundamentals-ai The Enduring Craft: Why Software Engineering Fundamentals Matter More Than Ever in the Age of AI https://www.fredpope.com/blog/development/enduring-craft-software-fundamentals-ai Exploring why core software engineering principles like design, testing, and maintainability are becoming even more critical for managing complexity and risk in the age of AI-powered code generation. Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT fred@fredpope.com (Fred Pope) software engineeringfundamentalsaibest practicestechnical debtcode quality