TLDR: AI aided software engineering offers productivity gains but also challenges Software Engineers to integrate stochastic AI-generated code while keeping projects maintainable. Reinterpreting the classic software engineering principle of encapsulation, defining robust, data-oriented module interfaces (fixed points) and rigorous unit tests (rules), we can treat the agent’s work as a controllable black box. This approach allows the agents to operate autonomously and by so doing offering the maximum viable benefits that will still see the human retain domain understanding and project control. ...