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Running with scissors: Using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute, and secure Drupal

October 12, 2026

Running with scissors: Using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute, and secure Drupal" is the title of my DrupalCon Orlando session proposal. I've been using and writing about AI as a Drupal developer for the past year, and I look forward to sharing my experience with fellow Drupalers at the conference. There is so much discussion about AI and Drupal, and I'd like your help with my DrupalCon session proposal.

We should assume most session proposals will focus on AI inside and outside Drupal from the perspective of site owners and builders. Meanwhile, if we want to encourage people to try Drupal, we also need to sell it to developers. My goal is to sell "using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute, and secure Drupal" to developers and vibe coders, while acknowledging the challenges and risks by comparing how fast we've had to adopt AI to "running with scissors."

Running with scissors

I first heard the expression "Running with scissors" in the title of Augusten Burroughs' memoir. I enjoyed reading that book, and now I am listening to the audiobook while working on this blog post. A subtle takeaway from the memoir is that sometimes you may find yourself "running with scissors' involuntarily (or voluntarily), and you have to decide how to handle that scenario.

Related to AI, "running with scissors" captures the extremely fast, collectively exceptional pace we're in: a remarkably massive societal shift, comparable to the Industrial Revolution, is unfolding. The Industrial Revolution took decades to unfold, whereas the AI Revolution is unfolding in a few years, especially among software developers.

The AI Revolution is probably the right term, and it could foreshadow AI winning the revolution, leading to humankind's demise. BTW, this won't be the focus of my session because, in the Drupal community and open source software, we share a collective goal of doing "good" for humankind. This is why we need to talk about "using AI to improve Drupal."

Using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute, and secure Drupal

I’ve previously written about building, maintaining, contributing to, and securing Drupal with AI, assuming the reader is already convinced to use Drupal. As a takeaway from the Driesnote about DrupalCon Rotterdam, it’s important for people already hooked on Drupal, like me and maybe you, to encourage others to explore or re-explore Drupal for their next project. Frankly, I'm not exactly sure what the "Explore Drupal using AI" content or presentation section would look like: I'll have to explore that. (Pun intended)

While running with my scissors toward DrupalCon Orlando, I'm going to try to blog my way to the conference, something I'd never commit to without AI. For the record, I've never used AI to write my posts, but when it comes to fixing grammar and tone and generating a splash image, AI makes it possible to finish a blog post in ⅓ the time.

When it comes to building, maintaining, contributing to, and securing Drupal with AI, I have plenty of content and thoughts. To share them, I'd like my session to target the Pragmatic Drupal Programmer (or Vibe Coder) and take a pragmatic approach.

Pragmatic Drupal Programmer

Matt Podcock recently said on the Pragmatic Engineer podcast that he is rereading and recommending "The Pragmatic Programmer" because he noticed that LLMs, during training, have read 25+ years of discussion around the book, and that agents will follow pragmatic approaches, best practices, and tips. He thinks that by giving agents subtle pragmatic programmer nudges, operators can get better results.

With this book in mind, I see an opportunity to weave best practices and tips into my presentation through a series of narratives and experiences.

Let me show you my session proposal, and then you can tell me what you think.

Here is my DrupalCon Orlando session proposal

AI is changing our world and work so quickly that I occasionally feel like I'm running with scissors to keep up. To understand, accept, and adopt AI, I've spent the past year writing about "Vibing Drupal" on my website, jrockowitz.com.

The goal of this presentation is to share my experiences using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute to, and secure Drupal. In line with the new Drupal advocacy initiative, I will explore ways to encourage people, specifically AI-using developers, to try or retry Drupal.

Inspired by "The Pragmatic Programmer," the presentation will offer practical tips to improve attendees' agent development process and workflow. Tips and tricks will be woven throughout the presentation, with 10 minutes of Q&A at the end, where we'll have an open and honest discussion about using AI to explore, build, maintain, contribute to, and secure Drupal.

Below are my four most recent blog posts, which will form the foundation of this presentation; I'll share more on exploring and advocating for Drupal soon.

Anyone, including Vibe Coders, who is AI-curious, AI-concerned, or AI-cautious is encouraged to attend to learn what's AI-possible, contribute to the discussion, and walk away with something new to explore with AI.

Help me with my DrupalCon session proposal. What questions or concerns should I explore? What would you like to take away from an AI for Drupal developers presentation?

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