AI Isn’t a Magic Wand, It’s a Microscope

Modernizing legacy systems used to feel like archaeology. 

Consultants would dig through decades-old code, trying to reconstruct logic that no one fully remembered, often relying on documentation that was incomplete or missing altogether. 

That’s where so many modernization efforts stalled or went over budget. 

But AI is changing that. 

It can now analyze millions of lines of COBOL or mainframe code, uncovering patterns, business rules, and data flows that were previously invisible. 

At the IRS, we saw this firsthand. Traditional documentation efforts took years and still missed critical edge cases. But AI-based analysis surfaced more accurate and complete logic in weeks and at a fraction of the cost. 

No, AI isn’t a magic wand. But it is a microscope helping organizations see and understand legacy systems in a way that makes real transformation possible. 

I share more on this in the white paper I recently wrote about AI-powered modernization in healthcare. 

Download Rajiv's Strategic Guide to AI Modernization: