Why AI-Generated Solutions Can Lead to Complex Debugging Issues


AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot can write beautiful, clean JavaScript — but that doesn’t mean it’s safe.
These days, it’s tempting to use AI to refactor or write our code. Ask something like ChatGPT to simplify your function, and boom — you get a chained, elegant one-liner using .map()
, .filter()
, .reduce()
and more.
It looks clean.
It feels modern.
But it can be a debugging nightmare.
🚨 The Illusion of Clean Code
Here’s an example AI-generated function I used:
const result = data
.filter(item => item.active)
.map(item => item.name.trim())
.sort()
.slice(0, 5)
.join(', ');
Looks perfect, right?
Then someone reported:
"Names are missing. Also, the app crashes sometimes."
Hmm. I try to debug — but where do I even console.log()
?
Is the issue in
.filter()
?Or is
item.name
undefined?Or does
.trim()
throw onnull
?
Eventually, I realized the problem: item.name
was null
.
So .trim()
failed and crashed the whole chain.
🧠 Refactor to Breathe
So I rewrote it — not to be clever, but to be clear:
const activeItems = data.filter(item => item.active);
console.log("Active items:", activeItems);
const trimmedNames = activeItems.map(item => {
if (!item.name || typeof item.name !== 'string') {
console.warn("Invalid item:", item);
return null;
}
return item.name.trim();
});
const validNames = trimmedNames.filter(Boolean).sort();
const topFive = validNames.slice(0, 5);
const result = topFive.join(', ');
console.log("Final result:", result);
It’s:
✅ Readable
✅ Traceable
✅ Safer
Sometimes you don’t need a one-liner — you need clarity.
💡 What I Learned
AI-generated chaining ≠ safe chaining
Chaining works great — if the data is clean
But in most real-world apps, your data is a little messy
Debugging tightly chained methods? Like untangling Christmas lights… blindfolded
🔧 My Rule of Thumb
If I can't easily log or debug each step, I shouldn't compress it.
✅ Use chaining when:
You trust your data
Each method is short and clear
You're not worried about side effects
❌ Break the chain when:
You need to inspect values in-between
The logic is non-trivial
You’re collaborating with others (or future-you)
🧪 Bonus: A Real-World Case
AI once gave me this:
const result = orders
.filter(o => o.items.length > 0)
.map(o => o.items.map(i => i.price).reduce((a, b) => a + b))
.filter(total => total > 100);
It looked brilliant. Until it didn’t.
What if:
items
is empty?price
is missing?reduce()
hitsundefined
?
So I rewrote that too — step by step.
Not because I didn’t know how to chain —
But because I care more about debugging and safety than flexing.
🔚 Final Thoughts
Method chaining is powerful — but AI often overdoes it.
If your code feels like a magic trick, it’s probably a trap.
Break the chain when you need to.
Your future self — and your teammates — will thank you.
✍️ Thanks for reading!
Have you seen AI write a beautifully broken one-liner? Drop your story below 👇
Originally published on Medium
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Written by

Rahul N Jayaraman
Rahul N Jayaraman
👋 Hey, I'm Rahul — a full-stack developer who loves turning ideas into clean, functional products. I write about JavaScript, Node.js, React, and real-world dev lessons. Expect dev logs, bugs I broke (and fixed), and things I'm learning along the way. 🛠 Currently building, shipping, and writing one commit at a time.