AI (agentic) development versus a traditional agency: what really changes

There is a lot of talk about coding with AI, and much of it is marketing. This is what really changes when a team develops with AI agents, and what doesn’t change at all.

What agentic development is

AI agents write code, test it and document it, coordinated by engineers who decide what gets built and review the result. The difference from “using an assistant to autocomplete” is that the agent takes on whole tasks (a feature with its tests, for example) and the person focuses on directing and checking them.

Where it really helps

• Repetitive, well-defined tasks: forms, admin screens, connections to common services.
• Tests and documentation, which are the first things cut when there is a rush and the most appreciated later.
• Prototypes: being able to show something clickable in days rather than weeks changes the conversation with the client.
• Iterating: trying an alternative costs much less, so more options are explored before deciding.

What doesn’t change

• Someone has to understand your business and decide what to build. AI doesn’t replace that conversation.
• Architecture, security and the hard decisions are still the judgement of an experienced person.
• Responsibility lies with the company that signs the project, not with the tool.
• A complex feature still takes time: AI shortens it, it doesn’t remove it.

The risks and how they are controlled

AI-generated code can contain bugs or security flaws just like hand-written code, and sometimes hides them better because it “looks right”. Three things keep it under control: human review of every change, automated tests that run before it is merged and specific security reviews. If a provider can’t explain how they do these three things, that is a red flag.

Seven questions for any provider

• Who reviews the code before it reaches my application?
• Which tests are included and who maintains them?
• Are the code and documentation mine from day one?
• Can I see something working before I commit?
• Is the price fixed? What happens if I want to change the scope?
• What happens after launch and how much does it cost?
• Can I see real projects, and will you tell me frankly which are for clients and which are your own?

Answering these questions well matters more than the tool the provider uses. A good team with AI delivers sooner; a bad team with AI delivers sooner… and worse.