2. Common Patterns AI Uses

How AI tends to write PHP
— the habits, defaults, shortcuts, and biases that show up again and again.

AI writes PHP with confidence, but it often relies on familiar patterns rather than the deeper shape of the language. These patterns are not “wrong”, but they reveal how AI thinks
— and where it drifts from modern PHP’s architectural intent.

Understanding these patterns helps us guide AI gently back into clarity.

AI defaults to arrays for almost everything:

• configuration
• data transfer
• nested structures
• return values
• internal state

Example drift:

return [
    'name' => $name,
    'email' => $email,
    'roles' => ['admin', 'editor']
];

Modern PHP prefers shape:

• DTOs
• readonly objects
• enums
• typed properties

Arrays are flexible, but they hide intent.

AI loves static methods
because they’re easy to call and easy to reason about:

UserFactory::create($data);

But static methods:

• hide dependencies
• reduce testability
• break inversion of control
• encourage procedural thinking

Modern PHP leans toward → objects with clear lifecycles.

AI often blends:

• PHP 5‑style classes
• PHP 7‑style type hints
• PHP 8‑style features
• docblocks that duplicate types

Example:

/** @var string $name */
public string $name;

This is syntactically valid but architecturally incoherent.

AI frequently imports ideas from:

• JavaScript (async/await, Promises)
• Python (decorators, dataclasses)
• Java (interfaces with default methods)
• TypeScript (structural typing)

These patterns “look right” to the model
but don’t exist in PHP.

AI sometimes produces:

• factories for trivial objects
• service locators
• unnecessary interfaces
• abstract classes with one implementation
• dependency injection containers inside functions

This is noise, not architecture.

Modern PHP favors clarity over ceremony.

AI loves:

• attributes
• readonly
• enums
• union types

…but often uses them without purpose.

Examples:

• readonly on objects that mutate
• attributes that don’t map to any system
• enums used as fancy constants
• union types where a DTO is clearer

Modern features express intent, not decoration.

AI often:

• returns inconsistent structures
• mixes associative and numeric arrays
• nests arrays too deeply
• forgets to validate input
• changes shape between calls

Modern PHP is about predictable shape.

AI sometimes:

• ignores edge cases
• assumes strict typing where none exists
• forgets about nullability
• mishandles exceptions
• misuses error suppression
• invents nonexistent functions

These slips are subtle but important.

AI tends to:

• default to arrays
• overuse static methods
• mix eras of PHP
• import patterns from other languages
• over‑engineer simple problems
• misuse modern features
• lose data shape
• miss edge cases

These patterns are not failures
— they are signals.
Once we recognize them, we can guide AI back into the shape of modern PHP with clarity and confidence.

This page describes common behaviors observed in AI models when generating PHP code.
These patterns are not guarantees, but they are consistent enough to be useful when reviewing or guiding AI output.

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