I‘m on the same page as you, I‘m investing into DX and test coverage and quality tooling like crazy.

But the weird thing is: those things have always been important to me.

And it has always been a good idea to invest in those, for my team and me.

Why am doing this 200% now?

If you're like me you're doing it to establish a greater level of trust in generated code. It feels easier to draw out the hard guard-rails and have something fill out the middle -- giving both you, and the models, a reference point or contract as to what's "correct"

Answering myself: maybe I feel much more urgency and motivation for this in the age of AI because the effects can be felt so much more acute and immediately.

Because a) the benefits are bigger, and b) the effort is smaller. When something gets cheaper and more valuable, do more of it.

For me it's because coworkers are pumping out horrible slop faster than ever before.