Module 16 · Modules 10–17

Review and quality

Legacy onboarding.

16

Code review is the skill of reading and evaluating code one did not write. In agentic engineering, all significant code is code one did not write. Agent-generated output is foreign code. An inherited legacy codebase is foreign code. The cognitive task is the same in both cases.

The empirical case for taking review seriously is concrete. Under rigorous audit, GPT-4’s apparent solve rate on real bugs collapsed from 12.47% to 3.97%. Nearly 30% of seemingly correct agent patches introduced behavioural regressions or were wrong on careful re-examination.

The MRP (Merge-Readiness Pack) is the structured verification standard. It consists of five criteria with explicit evidence requirements: functional completeness, sound verification, SE hygiene, rationale and communication, and full auditability. A pull request that satisfies all five criteria is merge-ready.

A linked concern emerges over time. Agent-generated code that passes review at the moment it is written may still accumulate as a maintenance burden: style drift, redundant abstractions, design intent that is no longer traceable. The same review discipline that catches the immediate regression is the only mechanism that prevents this slow accumulation. The dependency-graph methodology addresses the legacy migration case; tests must be rewritten from logical intent rather than translated literally from the source.

Mikael Alemu Gorsky

Mikael Alemu Gorsky is an educator and researcher, and the author of two programs: Agentic Software Engineering, on building software with AI agents, and Building Cognified Systems, on building software that thinks.

He teaches at the Holon Institute of Technology, near Tel Aviv, where Agentic Software Engineering runs as a graded course. He is an educator and researcher.

Nine published works, 100+ citations. A 350-page textbook under contract with a major academic publisher.

Teaching and programs

Agentic Software Engineering — program, preprint and textbook

The discipline of structured, auditable human-agent workflows for building software. The human frames, specifies and judges. The agent executes. Nineteen modules in four parts, built on a running project called Tribunal, a web application in which agents argue opposing sides of a case and a judge agent decides. Taught for credit at the Holon Institute of Technology.

Agentic Software Engineering curriculum

Building Cognified Systems — program, paper and book in writing

How to build systems that hold a language model as a working component, and treat that component as what it is: stochastic, slow and metered. Fourteen modules in four parts, about seventy hours. The running project is the Observatory, a news agency that watches sources, selects what matters and publishes on a cadence.

Research and analytics

Publications — journals and proceedings

Nine works, 100+ citations. Research on artificial intelligence in education, with Ilya Levin and Alexei Semenov.

The AI Pravda — LinkedIn newsletter

Critical analysis of artificial intelligence and its effect on work and society. 5,500+ subscribers. The complete archive of 103 issues (2023–2026) is published in full at mgorsky.net/theaipravda.

Subscribe to The AI Pravda on LinkedIn

Pro bono

AI for seniors — free workshop

Helping older adults use everyday AI tools. Delivered to Russian-speaking communities in Israel.

For older adults, artificial intelligence is about preserving quality of life, maintaining autonomy, and sustaining the feeling of independence that defines dignified aging. For seniors who have emigrated, AI becomes a bridge: it can translate documents, explain official letters, help compose emails in the local language, and guide users through government websites. The workshop has been delivered to Russian-speaking communities in Israel, where participants — many of them in their 70s and 80s — discovered that AI could help them read Hebrew documents and communicate with Israeli institutions.

Startup competitions — unpaid time

Judging and mentoring early-stage ventures. Helping teams clarify their value proposition, assess technical feasibility, and prepare for the realities of scaling an AI product.

AC/VC LinkedIn group — community

A group for developers and students working with coding agents. The community shares practical insights, code examples, tool comparisons, and honest assessments of what works in production.

Join the AC/VC LinkedIn group

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