How to Eliminate the Technical Debt of Insecure AI-Assisted Software Development

AI should be treated as a collaborator to be closely monitored, not an autonomous entity to be unleashed, the piece argues, warning that without guardrails the resulting technical debt will grow. It cites that one in five organisations have suffered a serious security incident directly tied to AI-generated code, and that nearly two-thirds of coding solutions produced by large language models are either incorrect or vulnerable, with roughly half of the correct solutions being insecure.

The author recommends establishing rules with thorough, non‑negotiable code reviews, investing in continuous upskilling aligned with the Secure by Design initiative from CISA, and redefining AI tool assessments to yield trust scores based on tool usage, vulnerability data and secure coding skills. He also stresses that there should be no shortcuts in the SDLC and that organisations must implement new rules, controls, metrics and benchmarking to minimise tech debt while leveraging AI’s benefits. If we heed industry forecasts, 2026 could be the year of AI-driven technical debt, according to Forrester.