AI编程的等级
Dan Shapiro proposes a five level model of AI-assisted programming, inspired by the five (or rather six, it's zero-indexed) tiers of autonomous driving, which outlines the evolving relationship between human developers and AI in the software development workflow.
丹·夏皮罗提出了一个AI辅助编程的五级模型，其灵感来源于五级（实际上是六级，从0开始计数）自动驾驶分级，该模型勾勒出了软件开发流程中人类开发者与AI之间不断演变的关系。
The six specific levels of the model are defined as follows:
1. Spicy autocomplete, corresponding to the original GitHub Copilot or the practice of copying and pasting code snippets from ChatGPT.
2. The coding intern, where AI writes unimportant code snippets and boilerplate code, all of which undergoes full human review.
3. The junior developer, where users engage in pair programming with the AI model, but still review every single line of code generated.
4. The developer, where most of the code is generated by AI, and the human takes on the role of a full-time code reviewer.
5. The engineering team, where the human acts more like an engineering manager or product/program/project manager, collaborating on specifications and plans while AI agents handle the actual development work.
6. The dark software factory, which is analogous to a factory run entirely by robots where the lights are turned off because robots do not require visibility to operate.
该模型的六个具体层级定义如下：
1. 增强版自动补全，对应最初的GitHub Copilot，或者从ChatGPT复制粘贴代码片段的操作模式。
2. 编码实习生：AI负责编写不重要的代码片段和样板代码，所有输出都需要经过完整的人工审核。
3. 初级开发者：用户与AI模型进行结对编程，但仍然会逐行审核AI生成的所有代码。
4. 开发者：大部分代码都由AI生成，人类的角色转变为全职代码审核者。
5. 工程团队：人类更像是工程经理或者产品/项目负责人，主要负责协作制定规格和计划，实际开发工作由AI代理完成。
6. 黑灯软件工厂：类似于完全由机器人运营的工厂，工厂里不需要开灯，因为机器人操作不需要光线。
Dan has a specific description of this highest-level category: "At level 5, it's not really a car any more. You're not really running anybody else's software any more. And your software process isn't really a software process any more. It's a black box that turns specs into software." The "dark" label comes from the well-known Fanuc Dark Factory concept -- it is dark because it is a space where humans are neither needed nor welcome.
丹对这个最高层级的分类有专门的描述：“到了第5级，它已经不再是传统意义上的汽车了，你其实也不再是在运行其他人开发的软件了，你的软件开发流程也不再是传统的软件流程，它变成了一个将需求规格转化为软件的黑盒子。” 其中“黑灯”的说法来源于知名的发那科黑灯工厂概念——工厂是黑的，因为这里既不需要人类参与，也不欢迎人类进入。
The author knows a small number of teams that are already operating under this dark software factory model, all of which are small teams with fewer than five members, and what they have achieved is almost unbelievable, and this is likely to be the future of the software development industry. The author has communicated with one such team that is applying this model, and its key characteristics are fascinating:
- No one ever reviews the code produced by AI, they don't even look at it at all.
- The core goal of the entire system is to prove that the software works correctly. A huge portion of the AI coding agents' work is focused on testing, tooling development, simulating related systems, and running demos.
- The role of humans is to design the overall system, explore new patterns that can help AI agents work more efficiently, and verify that the software being built is robust and effective.
作者认识一小部分已经在按照这种黑灯软件工厂模式运作的团队，都是不足5人的小团队，他们取得的成果几乎令人难以置信，而这很可能就是软件开发行业的未来。作者曾和一个正在实践该模式的团队交流过，其核心特点十分引人关注：
- 没有人会审核AI生成的代码，他们甚至根本不会去看这些代码。
- 整个系统的核心目标是证明软件能正常运行，AI编码代理的大部分工作都投入在测试、工具开发、相关系统模拟和演示运行上。
- 人类的角色是设计整个系统，探索能帮助AI代理更高效工作的新模式，以及验证所构建的软件是健壮且有效的。
This is a very small team, but the products they built in just a few months looked very convincing to the author. Some of the team members have more than 20 years of experience as software developers working on high-reliability systems, so they are not approaching this model from a naive perspective. The author hopes that they will come out of stealth mode soon, as he cannot share more details about their work at present. An update on 7th February 2026 noted that the demo mentioned was created by StrongDM's AI team, and they have now publicly released relevant content.
这是一个规模极小的团队，但他们仅用几个月时间打造出的产品在作者看来非常有说服力。团队部分成员拥有20多年开发高可靠性系统的软件工程师经验，因此他们并非以不成熟的视角来实践这种模式。作者希望他们能尽快结束隐身状态，因为目前他无法分享更多相关细节。2026年2月7日的更新指出，文中提到的演示是由StrongDM的AI团队完成的，他们现在已经公开发布了相关内容。