, the first launch of Ariane 5 took place — a new European heavy-lift launch vehicle designed to deliver payloads into low Earth orbit. The rocket exploded less than 40 seconds after liftoff. This was caused by specification and design errors in the software of the inertial navigation system. A software module had been reused from the previous Ariane 4 version without verifying whether its constraints were suitable for the new environment. It became one of the most expensive software errors in history. Why am I recalling an event from thirty years ago in a text about technical debt generated by AI tools? Because it helps us remember a simple truth: in complex systems, what is dangerous is not only “bad code,” but also code that looks acceptable yet does not match the context. AI assistants reproduce a similar issue?.…