If you had told me four months ago that I would be writing code with the help of AI, I would have scoffed. If you had told me I'd be giving a talk to university students about it — even more so. But here we are. That, right there, is how fast the software industry is moving.

"Am I going to be regaling students with stories of vibe coding complete AAA titles whilst I sit back and let the tokens do the work? No. And if I ever do, please send help."

What I have found is that when you use these tools carefully, you can get a lot done — and crucially, you can have real faith in what you're deploying. There's a series coming soon on exactly that: how I built this website with help from Copilot and Claude AI. The wins, the friction, all of it.

That's the heart of what I want to share with the students this week. Not hype. Not fear. Just a practical look at how to use AI tools to your advantage — while making sure that the code you ship is safe for yourself and for your users.

I'm going to enjoy this. 😊