Field Notes
Dan Grafham
Field notes on AI-assisted development. Concepts, failure modes, and the operating model underneath.
April 2026
Five Levels of AI Programming
A working framework for the current state of AI-assisted development, and a clear map of where the industry is heading.
The Dark Factory
A deep dive into Level 5: what it actually requires, what it looks like in practice, and what kind of person could architect one.
May 2026
AI Debt
What happens when the framework starts serving itself instead of shipping the product.
Humans Moving Upchain
The substrate-level shift that the entire AI moment is producing. Agents move in below. Humans relocate above.
Shipping Paralysis & World Domination Scope
Why AI making code free didn't make shipping easier, and the specific traps that keep a genuinely good project permanently local.