AI Multiplies Technical Expertise — It Doesn't Level the Playing Field

The Multiplier Thesis

Josh Comeau, a web development educator, published an analysis arguing that AI tool effectiveness scales with existing expertise rather than compensating for its absence: AI is a multiplier, not a bridge.

Expert vs. Novice

Matt Perry, an animation engineering expert, used AI to close 160 GitHub issues instead of 60 and completed a major refactor in an afternoon. Meanwhile, users in r/vibecoding find early AI-assisted success followed quickly by intractable problems.

The Architectural Problem

"LLMs tend to paint themselves into a corner, because they're generating code to solve individual prompts, not thinking holistically about an application's architecture." Without a developer who can recognize and steer around these patterns, AI-generated code accumulates technical debt at speed.

The Iron Man Suit

AI is not Michael Jordan's sneakers (which don't transfer ability) but Iron Man's suit — it does incredible things, but only in capable hands. The implication: deep knowledge of your domain remains the primary lever. AI amplifies it.