Risks of AI-generated code: a checklist before deployment
A model generates code that looks credible and often works. That is exactly why its flaws are easy to overlook.
Security
Generated code can skip input validation, build database queries in a way that is vulnerable to injection, store passwords without proper hashing or grant overly broad permissions. The model learned from a huge amount of code, including poor-quality code, and does not always tell a tutorial example from a production solution.
Secrets in the repository
API keys and passwords pasted into a file "just for a moment" can end up in the repository history. Keep them in environment variables, add configuration files to the ignore list and check the history before you publish a project.
Dependencies that do not exist
Models can invent package names. If someone registers such a name and puts malicious code in it, installing the "suggested" package becomes an attack vector. Before adding an unfamiliar library, check who maintains it, how long it has existed and how many people use it.
Data privacy
When you paste code snippets, logs or customer data into a tool, you are sending them to an external provider. Check its data processing rules and do not paste anything you are not allowed to share outside.
Licenses
A generated snippet may resemble code covered by a specific license. The legal questions around AI-created code are still being settled and differ between jurisdictions, so for commercial projects it is worth consulting a lawyer.
Technical debt
The costliest side effect is code that nobody on the team understands. Six months from now, when it has to be changed, it will turn out that nobody knows why it does what it does.
Pre-deployment checklist
- Do I understand what every part of the code I am deploying does?
- Is all user input validated?
- Is the repository free of keys, passwords and personal data?
- Does every added dependency exist and is it maintained?
- Are there tests covering the most important paths?
- Has someone else reviewed the changes?
