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# Our Brains in the AI Era


- **Event:** World Congress 2026 North America

## Description

AI is everywhere. In your editor, your terminal, your code review, your inbox, your search bar—and probably your toaster by the time this talk happens. We're not here to pretend otherwise, and we're not here just to dunk on it.

This keynote is an honest look at what happens to us, as developers and as people, when we outsource our thinking at scale.

We're living in a genuinely exciting moment. Modern tools are more accessible than ever, shifting us from conforming to existing SaaS toward building personal tools and personal software.

But the cost is real: AI "slop" is showing up in open source pull requests, documentation, code reviews, and emails. The internet is filling with content humans didn't really think about, and the habit of thinking hard is eroding.

This talk explores the nuance. It's not simply "AI good" or "AI bad." We'll cover guardrails, speaking up for quality, and continuing to think better—because our brains are resources we have to keep for the rest of our lives.

## Speaker

### [Cassidy Williams](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@cassidy-williams)

Senior Director of Developer Advocacy, GitHub


## Related talks at this congress

- [When Humans Stop Writing Code: Rethinking Languages, Compilers, and Responsibility](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1709-when-humans-stop) — Simon Auer
- [The Broken Rung: How AI is Rebuilding Software Development from the Ground Up](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1744-the-broken-rung-how) — Tomislav Tipurić
- [The Productivity Illusion: What AI Really Changed for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1436-the-productivity) — Fatih Kadir Akın
- [Building AI Products vs. Building With AI](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1841-building-ai-products) — Aparna Dhinakaran, Rukmini Reddy, Tamar Bercovici

## Watch remotely

Can’t make it to San José? Watch this session live with Pro. You also get:

- All full videos, bookmarks, and playlists
- World Congress livestreams

[See pricing](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/pricing)

## Links

- [Get tickets](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/world-congress-north-america/tickets)