AI enhanced web development

I have, for the best part of a year, been dipping my toes in AI generated code behind the safety net of Google Gemini's web interface, but recently I have been allowing AI models write code directly in my development tools. AI is undeniably powerful and I would be doing my clients a disservice if I did not try and use it to its full potential.

But I also know it would be a bad idea to let AI work on my projects without verifying every line of code—thankfully, my new tools make that process quite efficient. Overall I would say that AI is helping me write about 33% more code in the same time. I wouldn't say that my projects are being completed 33% quicker, because the time saved is now being spent on coming up with more robust and better tested solutions. My code is, without a doubt, cleaner and more sensible thanks to AI.

So that's what's new in my web development process as of May 2026. I'm using PHPStorm as my primary development environment with its integrated coding agent (Junie), the Laravel Idea plugin, Laravel Boost and I'm mainly using Gemini Flash (one of the cheapest AI models).

Exciting times in web development! AI isn't the enemy; it's a very powerful tool, but use it wisely!