On building product: AI and code ownership

One of the things I'm curious about is how AI will change the relationship between developers and their code.

Most engineers love their code. If you want to put this to the test, just go and create a PR (pull request) on someone else's code and refactor their approach. You'll get all sorts of questions about why it's needed.

It's a genuine emotional connection between the builder and their creation. It is also a form of ownership. Owners are always feeling more responsible for their stuff than everyone else. 

Now, a lot of code is being written by AI. Will developers still care about their code quality? Is it even important to care about your code anymore?

In my experience, when AI coding tools came out a couple of years ago, I started using them for Betterchamp (my personal project). After a few months, I noticed I had less emotional connection to the code I didn't write myself, especially the files that were completely new and I had no involvement in. I'd read the code to make sure it works and doesn't have major issues. That's about it.

I think this connection matters because developers are more likely to improve the code and naturally the overall software quality when they build it themselves. When that connection is gone, things become transactional. If it works, don't touch it.

I'm wondering if this will change how well we build software in the future.