2026-09-15

FDE Dependency Risks Examined

UPSTREAM TITLE: AI Reinvention Series: Rented

SHORT SUMMARY: California Management Review examines whether the enterprise-AI FDE boom risks recreating consulting dependency, arguing that embedded vendor engineers can get pilots into production quickly while leaving customers unable to maintain or extend the resulting systems. Its paired second article recommends accountable internal owners, contractual capability-transfer deliverables, independence metrics, and scrutiny of expanding FDE headcount.

OUTLET: California Management Review

LINK: https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2026/09/ai-reinvention-series-rented/