Kyle Kingsbury on LLMs eroding trust in software and documentation
What happened
On 2 November 2026, Simon Willison reported that Kyle Kingsbury, author of Jepsen, said in his test results for ParticleDB 1.1.4 that the use of LLMs is eroding trust in documentation, software and the organisations behind them. He argues that signals once used to judge whether a system is mature are now easier to fake, and that engineers may therefore approach any new software project with suspicion. He also raises how maintainers can ensure the correctness of software and documentation in the LLM era, and prove that quality to users.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 3 h ago
Timeline
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- Simon WillisonQuoting Kyle Kingsbury
Kyle Kingsbury, author of Jepsen, says in his test results for ParticleDB 1.1.4 that the use of LLMs is eroding trust in documentation, in software and in the organisations that produce them. The signals once relied on as markers of a mature system are now easier to counterfeit, he argues, and engineers may come to treat any new software project with suspicion. He also asks how maintainers can ensure correct software and accurate documentation in the age of LLMs, and how they can demonstrate that quality to users.
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