AI migrated legacy COBOL programs to Java, bugs included

A Hacker News thread highlighted an AI-assisted migration that rewrote legacy COBOL code into Java.

Commenters argued over whether the approach truly lowers migration risk or just preserves old bugs while adding new ones.

Concerns centered on determinism, maintainability, and how much trust can be placed in the generated code.

Several noted the demo was far smaller than real-world COBOL estates, making broad claims hard to verify.

Because large organizations still run critical COBOL systems, the stakes for automated modernization remain high.