Agent Psychosis: Are We Going Insane?

The week’s Changelog roundup opens with the long‑awaited jQuery 4.0, a major release that still underpins roughly 71 percent of all websites. While legacy libraries celebrate stability, developers are wrestling with a new kind of burnout: AI‑driven coding agents. Armin Ronicher describes an “agent coding addiction” that fuels rapid output but erodes pull‑request quality and inflates issue noise. Adding to the conversation, Dan Abramov frames the emerging “social file system” built on the AT protocol, suggesting that file‑based interoperability could reshape platforms like GitHub, Instagram, and TikTok.

Security‑focused sponsors highlight the hidden risk of stale dependency suggestions from AI assistants. Sonotype Guide integrates live component intelligence directly into tools such as Claude and Cursor, ensuring that generated code references up‑to‑date, vulnerability‑free packages. The broader web ecosystem mirrors this concern; Leah Verrou warns that third‑party tooling has turned dependency management into a fragile, non‑first‑class problem. She urges browser vendors and standards bodies to restore healthy, cheap, and first‑class dependency handling, arguing that incremental fixes won’t suffice without systemic change.

For businesses, these trends converge on productivity and risk. A stable jQuery foundation offers continuity, yet unchecked AI reliance can compromise code review cycles and expose supply‑chain attacks. Embracing tools like Sonotype Guide and rethinking dependency architectures can safeguard releases while preserving the speed AI promises. Listeners are encouraged to follow the Changelog newsletter for deeper analysis, actionable links, and community insights that help navigate the evolving landscape of modern software development.