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AI could keep COBOL running

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'Modernizing a COBOL system once required armies of consultants 
spending years
mapping workflows... AI changes this': Anthropic says AI could help 
 keep COBOL
running for a long time to come - but IBM won't be happy

By Efosa Udinmwen published 19 hours ago

Engineers can now modernize complex COBOL systems using AI

    AI automates COBOL code exploration, maps dependencies, and 
 analyzes
structural risks quickly
    Engineers can prioritize modernization based on technical risk and 
 business
value efficiently
    Automated tests verify that migrated COBOL components produce 
 identical
outputs to legacy systems

Modernizing legacy COBOL systems has long been a costly and 
 labor-intensive
process that requires extensive human effort, as traditionally, teams 
 of
consultants spent months or even years mapping workflows, documenting
dependencies, and untangling decades of accumulated business logic.

Hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL still run in production 
 worldwide,
powering critical systems in banking, government, and airlines, yet 
 finding
developers with the knowledge to interpret these systems has become
increasingly difficult.

Now, however, Anthropic is looking to supplant this, with its Claude AI
platform aiming to take much of the heavy lifting away from human 
 workloads.

How AI aids code exploration and analysis

This scarcity of expertise has historically slowed modernization 
 projects and
increased costs - however, Anthropic now believes AI can automate much 
 of the
exploration phase that once consumed most human effort.

"Modernizing a COBOL system once required armies of consultants 
 spending
years mapping workflows... AI changes this," the company said in a blog 
 post.

Tools like Claude Code can map dependencies across thousands of lines 
 of COBOL,
trace data flows between modules, and document workflows that current 
 staff no
longer actively remember.  These automated processes identify risks, 
 isolate
tightly coupled components, and flag duplicated or potentially fragile 
 code.

By analyzing these structural and functional relationships, AI can 
 prioritize
which components to modernize first based on technical risk, business 
 value,
and organizational priorities.

The best laptops for programming allow engineers to integrate AI 
 outputs
efficiently while maintaining oversight of the modernization plan, and 
 once
components are prioritized, AI can generate preliminary function tests 
 to
verify that migrated code produces identical outputs to the legacy 
 system.

Human teams then decide whether these automated tests are sufficient, 
 which
scenarios require manual verification, and what performance benchmarks 
 must be
maintained.  Implementation proceeds incrementally, with each module 
 tested and
validated before additional changes are made.

AI tools can translate COBOL logic into modern languages, create API 
 wrappers
around legacy components, and build scaffolding that allows old and new 
 code to
operate side by side.  This reduces the risk of large-scale failures 
 and
enables organizations to move forward with complex modernization 
 projects.

AI also provides detailed insights into potential technical debt, 
 isolated
modules, and high-risk areas, allowing teams to plan modernization
strategically - as engineers can review these recommendations and 
 sequence the
work to align with regulatory requirements, business priorities, and
operational constraints.

Automated documentation and analysis give teams comprehensive 
 situational
awareness, but final decisions still rely on human judgment.

While this is a major win for many engineering teams, IBM, a major 
 vendor of
COBOL-powered mainframes and enterprise systems, will not be pleased.

The company saw its stock fall sharply after Anthropic announced that 
 Claude
Code could automate much of the labor-intensive modernization process.

AI's ability to replace work traditionally done by human consultants
threatens parts of IBM's business model.

This shows that even long-established enterprise software vendors may 
 face
disruption as AI continues to reshape legacy system modernization.


https://www.techradar.com/pro/modernizing-a-cobol-system-once-required-
-armies-o
f-consultants-spending-years-mapping-workflows-ai-changes-this-
-anthropic-says-a
i-could-help-keep-cobol-running-for-a-long-time-to-come-but-ibm-wont-be-
-happy

$$

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AI could keep COBOL running NOSPAM.sysop@darkrealms.ca (Dumas Walker) - Sat, 28 Feb 2026 10:59:25
  Re: AI could keep COBOL running Joe <none@nowhere.whereo> - 2026-03-02 14:49 +0000
    Re: AI could keep COBOL running Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2026-03-04 09:52 -0500
  Re: AI could keep COBOL running Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2026-03-02 18:38 -0500

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