Phil Smeeton's Tech Thinking Blog

With Gen AI the web is technically advanced enough for 2026, what we should be doing is making the web a more visually beautiful place with big GUI updates and more innovation in the front end. In short, I think web 4.0 should be mostly a visual update. People buy Apple devices because they look great, people will love web 4.0 if it extends web pages visually to new heights, good luck.

That you would deploy a mission critical system made using agentic tools controlling a hazardous resource without examining every line of code by an human expert? Agentic software development promises faster coding, automated testing, and increased productivity, but it comes with important tradeoffs. AI agents can introduce subtle bugs, security vulnerabilities, and technical debt while confidently producing incorrect solutions. They often lack the architectural understanding and business context needed for long-term maintainability, making human oversight essential.  As organizations adopt autonomous development tools, the focus shifts from writing code to verifying it. Success depends on strong governance, thorough reviews, and clear accountability. Agentic AI is a powerful accelerator, but treating it as a replacement for experienced engineers can create more problems than it solves.