How Do You Manage Risks When Everybody is a Dev?

It’s not news that most organizations have been investing time and resources in figuring out how to use generative AI and have launched various use case discovery initiatives, and, that’s great: they should. But beyond that, one of the most powerful—if not the most powerful—uses of GenAI in business is solving problems fast with AI-generated code. Sounds like a tautology, but I mean it: the mother of all use cases is that anyone can use GenAI to solve problems with code.

We all know by now that GenAI can generate code. We’ve heard from IP lawyers on LinkedIn about the risks almost as soon as GPT launched. In fact, this is where GenAI first made its corporate mark—GitHub Copilot was changing the game before ChatGPT even hit the scene.

What’s new is that the world will soon realize that anyone can be a coder. You might think, "Well, even if GPT gave me the perfect script, I wouldn’t know where to start—where to put it or how to run it." And this is where you’re about to be proven wrong. Even an 8-year-old did it, as shown here.

New tools are coming out every day to help developers code and ship faster with GenAI. Cursor AI is the talk of the town right now. Combined with platforms that let you deploy applications in minutes like Replit, the problem-solving ability of anyone who can send an email is about to skyrocket, or maybe already has. This is not a small change.

I see your raised eyebrows. For now, yes, you still need a bit of coding knowledge to use these tools (but if you can find answers on the internet, you’re halfway there). Soon enough, though, we’ll have tools that make all the technical stuff completely invisible—hidden under the hood in an interface so simple that total beginners will be able to ship basic websites and small apps. Think about how Canva turned everyone into at least a mediocre designer. They didn’t cater to people struggling with Photoshop; they onboarded users who became designers because, well, now they could.

So, the most game-changing use case for GenAI—the one with the most radical impact—is that everyone in your organization will be able to use it to solve problems with tech. Easily. Problems that haven’t even surfaced yet, or ones the people in your use case discovery sessions haven’t thought of.

Companies with mature IT and risk functions have probably tightened their policies in recent years, eliminating shadow IT and centralizing development in specific teams. Good. But their smaller, nimbler competitors—or those who are just less risk-averse—are likely going to capitalize on this "mother of all use cases" thanks to looser policies. And that’s also a major risk.

So maybe the question isn’t, "How do I find the perfect use case for my IT team to develop, wrapped in the right governance and stakeholders?" Instead, it’s "How do I build an organization where everyone can solve problems with GenAI securely?" Those who figure that out will come out ahead.