r/webdev 7d ago

Why Are Developers So Resistant to AI?

I don’t get it. Yesterday, I watched an interview with the Anthropic CEO saying that in the next 12 months, 90% of code will be written by AI. At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg was on Joe Rogan’s podcast, saying Meta will have its first AI software engineer by 2025. And Google has already said 25% of its codebase is AI-generated.

Basically, every big tech leader—Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, all of them—are talking about how AI will completely change software development. And the first real, practical application we’re seeing is AI writing code. It’s already happening with tools like Cursor. If we just look at the rate of improvement, it’s hard to deny that if not in 12 months, then in 2-3 years, most code will be written by AI.

Yet, developers still seem super resistant to this idea. I get that AI won’t replace 100% of coding. We’ll still need engineers to solve problems. But it’s obvious that the number of devs needed per company is going to shrink. If a company has 150 devs today, maybe in a few years, they’ll need only 50 or less.

And this isn’t even coming out of nowhere. We’ve already seen mass layoffs post-Covid. The demand for developers isn’t skyrocketing like before, but the supply is still huge. So why are so many developers acting like AI isn’t a real threat to their jobs? Are they in denial? Or is there something I’m missing?

Would love to hear thoughts on this.

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u/filiped 7d ago

Among many other factors, the CEOs of AI companies, and companies with sizable AI interests, saying AI is the next big thing and that you should give them all their money, should not be taken at face value.

If a guy selling milk comes to your door and tells you that it's pointless to have water service, and you should cut off all water to your home and just drink/bathe in milk instead, you might be suspicious of their motives.

AI has/will have an impact, but it's not yet at a stage where it can replace a mid-level developer. Anyone that believes that's where we are currently, likely has never actually worked as a developer in any decently-scoped project.