WTF Happened To Devin The AI Dev?

The AI Developer’s Rise, Fall, and Resurrection

behind a paywall? read Devin’s story here for free.

The March 2024 Explosion: When AI Promised to Eat Software Engineering

Here’s the deal. In March 2024, Devin crashed into the software engineering world like a digital wrecking ball. Cognition Labs dropped an AI that claimed it could do what every junior dev does — but without coffee breaks, salary, or attitude.

But who brought Devin into the world? The company behind Devin is called cognition.ai

Cognition

The Initial Promise

Devin wasn’t just another coding assistant. This was supposed to be the first autonomous AI software engineer capable of:

- Writing entire projects from scratch
- Debugging complex codebases
- Passing engineering interviews at top AI companies
- Completing freelance gigs on Upwork