R2 — Keep AI-assisted coding at the margin; it lowers assembly labor recently but is not a structural driver
Created 2026-06-21
Rule
Rule: Treat AI-assisted coding (2022–present) as a recent accelerant that lowers assembly labor at the margin. Never use it to anchor a falling-cost argument.
Why: The three durable drivers (R1 — Anchor the falling-cost case on the decade 2004–2014 (infrastructure + parts + data); AI-assisted coding is NOT the spine) got cheap on dated, pre-AI timelines (2004–2016). The case stands entirely on infrastructure + parts + data. Anchoring on AI invites the reader to dismiss the argument as hype-driven the next time AI hype turns.
How to apply:
- AI mentions land after the structural case in any article.
- Vendor / agency pitch decks that anchor on AI as the reason "real software is now cheap" trip R6 — Flag the vendor incentive on every cost claim — AWS price-cut count, SaaS build-vs-buy ranges, agency portal estimates.
- See Caveats: AWS vendor framing quarantined; build-vs-buy vendor cost pages flagged; DrPeering single-source; sysadmin wages needs-verification for the formal quarantine.