Anni Chen, a software engineer at Amazon, has revealed that AI toolsnow help her write 95% of the codeshe produces. Chen, who joined the company as an entry-level Software Engineer Iin 2022, has had a fast-rising career trajectory, earning two promotionsin less than three years, thanks to her ability to harness the power of generative AItools like ChatGPTand Claude.

Chen's journey with AI in codingbegan with small experiments, where she initially used AI to generate titles for recommendation widgets. This grew into a broader use of AI as an integral part of her daily workflow, not only for coding tasks but for solving complex development problems. Instead of waiting until she got stuck, Chen began asking AI for help from the very start of her tasks.

One of her key insights was realizing that AIcould assist in much more than small-scale tasks. It quickly evolved into an essential part of her work, allowing her to produce code fasterand more efficiently. But Chen points out that the real skill lies not just in speeding upthe coding process, but in translating AI-generated codeinto scalable, productized solutions.

As her proficiency with AI toolsgrew, so did her responsibilities. Chen became part of a dedicated team focused on creating AI-driven productsand was later promoted to Software Engineer IIand then to a senior engineering role. Today, she works on AI-powered systemsused across Amazon's platforms, focusing on developing personalized generative AI experiences.

Despite using AI toolsto streamline the coding process, Chen emphasizes that engineers still have the responsibilityto fully understand the code they produce. She highlights that engineers cannot blame AI if something goes wrong in production, pointing out that AI lowers the barrier to writing code, but not the responsibility for fixing issues.