Comment by Animats

There are a few issues here.

It's useful to think about AI-driven coding assistants in terms of the SAE levels of automation for automatic driving.

- Level 0 - totally manual

- Level 1 - a bit of assistance, such as cruise control

- Level 2 - speed and steering control that requires constant supervision by a human driver. This is where most of the commercial systems are now.

- Level 3 - Level 2, but reliable enough that the human driver doesn't need to supervise constantly. Able to bring the vehicle to a safe stop by itself. Mercedes -Benz Drive Pilot is supposedly level 3. Handoff between computers and human remains a problem. Human still liable for accidents.

- Level 4 - Full automation, but not under all conditions. Waymo is Level 4. Human just selects the destination.

- Level 5 - Full automation, at least as capable as human drivers under all conditions. Not yet seen.

What we're looking at with the various programming assistance AI systems ls Level 2 or Level 3 competence. These are the most troublesome levels. Who's in charge? Who's to blame?

The need for such programming assistance systems may be transient, as it clearly is in automotive. Eventually, everybody in automotive will get to Level 4 or better, or drop out due to competitive pressure.