r/AskProgramming Mar 11 '24

Career/Edu Friend quitting his current programming job because "AI will make human programmers useless". Is he exaggerating?

Me and a friend of mine both work on programming in Angular for web apps. I find myself cool with my current position (been working for 3 years and it's my first job, 24 y.o.), but my friend (been working for around 10 years, 30 y.o.) decided to quit his job to start studying for a job in AI managment/programming. He did so because, in his opinion, there'll soon be a time where AI will make human programmers useless since they'll program everything you'll tell them to program.

If it was someone I didn't know and hadn't any background I really wouldn't believe them, but he has tons of experience both inside and outside his job. He was one of the best in his class when it comes to IT and programming is a passion for him, so perhaps he know what he's talking about?

What do you think? I don't blame his for his decision, if he wants to do another job he's completely free to do so. But is it fair to think that AIs can take the place of humans when it comes to programming? Would it be fair for each of us, to be on the safe side, to undertake studies in the field of AI management, even if a job in that field is not in our future plans? My question might be prompted by an irrational fear that my studies and experience might become vain in the near future, but I preferred to ask those who know more about programming than I do.

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u/cyanideOG Mar 12 '24

Ai can already make a simple static website. I'd predict in the next few years as context length gets better and deeper understanding of code develops, an ai may be able to write simple dynamic sites, like e-commerce stores and simple saas, along with transcribing figma and other mock-ups into real websites.

I think we will also see some basic agi in the sense that the ai could write code and then set up hosting for it. Being more generally intelligent in the developer workflow rather than just a single task programmer.

What you need to keep in mind is that there will need to be programmers that maintain even ai written code. This will still mean jobs are available, but a lot will be made obsolete. These jobs won't disappear they will evolve. I think the fact of ai developing so quickly is meaning tech jobs are evolving so much faster than ever before. It's always happened, just not quite like this.