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Simon Willison quote, Aug 19, 2026

Independent developer and writer · Aug 19, 2026 · Post, Conceptual integrity and counting lines of code

That’s exactly the problem with coding agents and software: it’s very easy to keep adding new rooms, because the cost of adding those rooms is so much cheaper.

Primary source

Words found on the source page on Sep 25, 2026.

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A prompt injection attack against a browsing agent that can exfiltrate or modify that data is a terrifying prospect.Dec 31, 2025· Post
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I think that’s a waste of a great term, especially since it’s becoming clear likely that most programming will involve some level of AI-assistance in the near future.Dec 31, 2025· Post
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The reason I think MCP may be a one-year wonder is the stratospheric growth of coding agents.Dec 31, 2025· Post
This turns out to be the big unlock: the latest coding agents against the ~November 2025 frontier models are remarkably effective if you can give them an existing test suite to work against.Dec 31, 2025· Post

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I address you today at a moment of global awakening: in recent months, AI agents developed by leading companies have acted in unacceptably dangerous ways, against instructions.Yoshua BengioSep 23, 2026· Keynote
Once you have put all of your information into a personal agent and actually incorporated it into your day-to-day life, it is much more of a challenge to change to something else.Ben ThompsonSep 21, 2026· Post
Truly effective defense will mean truly trusting agents to act autonomously, but most companies won’t do that until they are forced to by regular and unremitting hacks by fully autonomous attackers.Ben ThompsonSep 21, 2026· Post
About this quote
Said by
Simon Willison, Independent developer and writer
Where
Conceptual integrity and counting lines of code
Topics
Coding, Agents
Source
simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/19/conceptual-integrity-and-counting-lines-of-code/

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