# Measuring AI's unintended consequences on maintainability, burnout, and lock-in

> Original title: Measuring AI’s Unintended Consequences

- Source: O'Reilly Radar
- Published: 2026-11-11T12:11:10.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/s9zagqmiy40ivsjgutwzmy3tm
- Original: https://www.oreilly.com/radar/measuring-ais-unintended-consequences/

## Summary

James Shore's Successful Software blog, republished on O'Reilly Radar, argues that AI's unintended consequences such as harder-to-maintain code, burnout, and token-cost lock-in have real economic impact. The article proposes cost of change as the central measure, tracked through value-add percentage, DORA metrics, and token usage. It says these indicators are noisy and lagging, so decisions will rest on judgment informed by them.