A lot of people have been asking me this question in recent months. They wonder whether it is worth starting their adventure with programming. We will now analyze 16 points, theses, which prove that artificial intelligence will definitely not replace programmers.
1) People want to make money with these tools and make clickbait titles
Recently, we have a lot of new tools based on artificial intelligence, such as chat gpt, or devin, etc., which are actually the product of large companies that have invested a lot of money in these tools and cannot afford for the project to end in failure. They just want to make money on these tools. Because of this, they often introduce a lot of clickbait headlines that are supposed to stimulate the imagination and convince their potential customers to use their tools, and they simply make money from it. Simple business model. So this is supposed to be a sexy theory, controversial slogans such as artificial intelligence replacing programmers, but in fact it has little to do with reality. This is typical clickbait. If we go into a deeper analysis of these tools, then notice that these companies show some top-selected things about how their tool works, just to encourage people to use it for a price. So they want you to pay to use these tools. Therefore, it convinces you that it is great, that it is a revolution, and as I mentioned, there is nothing revolutionary there. Sure, there are some cool uses for these tools, more on that later, but nothing special. Such a tool will certainly not replace programmers.
2) If AI is to replace professions, it will replace many other professions, programmers being at the end of this list
If you know what a programmer's job is like, then think carefully whether the profession of a programmer can actually be replaced so easily? Is programming really so simple that it is on the front line to be replaced by artificial intelligence? Well, probably not. What about other professions, such as law? doctor? If anything, these professions will be replaced much sooner than programmers. If AI will replace any professions, programmers are at the end of this list. If artificial intelligence were to replace programmers, the whole world would simply change, everything would function differently than it does now. As I mentioned, programmers will be replaced last, then new professions will appear and it is probably better to have technical and programming knowledge then, because you will be able to cope with the new world more easily. Only people who don't know anything about programming can think that AI will replace programmers and further fuel this bubble.
3) Programming is constantly changing
It used to be that you programmed in some simple tools where if you forgot to add one character, you spent several days to find the mistake. The programming environments in which programmers work are improved year by year. Now we have visual studio, which, among other things, has intelisense, which tells us the syntax, autocomplete, which, after entering a few characters, tells us the names of the methods or properties we want to use, we have code snippets, where writing a few characters and clicking tab generates the entire structure for us that we want to create. Lots of features that make programming easier. This wasn't the case before. Now if you make a typo in the code, you will be notified immediately. The editor will detect this and show you where you probably made a mistake. Programming is also becoming easier. These tools are not created to replace programmers, but to make the work of programmers easier. It's the same with AI. Previously, you could look for knowledge in the Google search engine, you used various programming forums, stackoverflow, etc. If you had a problem, you looked for answers on these portals, and now instead you can use AI, which can help you find such not-so-complicated ones faster information, although this information cannot always be trusted.
4) AI supports the work of programmers
So, as I already mentioned. These tools were created to support the work of programmers, and only in simple, repetitive tasks. These tools, if any, only cover some basic, simple things and will not be able to create an advanced application. It's not that easy. Just like a few years ago, there was a big hype about github copilot, which was also supposed to replace programmers, and as it turned out, it only increased the productivity of programmers. Thanks to AI, we will spend less time creating simple, repetitive code.
5) It will never replace the best programmers, focus on development
Programmers are different. There are people who develop and move up the career ladder throughout their career, and there are those who got a job and stopped expanding their knowledge at this stage. At work, they do the simplest tasks and only when they have a problem with something do they look for materials. If you are afraid that artificial intelligence may take your job, try to be in the first group. Develop yourself, expand your knowledge, acquire new skills, focus on more advanced tasks and then I am convinced that you will always cope. There will always be a job for you and recruiters will fight for you on the labor market. As I mentioned, artificial intelligence only handles simple tasks well, so if you are or want to be a programmer who only deals with trivial, simple tasks at work, then you can be afraid. However, if you focus on development, you can rest easy, you will definitely find a job and find your place in this profession. A good programmer will not be replaced by artificial intelligence.
6) AI-generated code always requires verification
I can't imagine using code generated by artificial intelligence without first verifying it. It's hard to 100% trust code that was written by someone else. What's more, artificial intelligence often makes various mistakes and relying on code without verification is a shot in the foot. Such code must always be checked, otherwise there will be bugs, data leaks and huge costs. However, to verify such code, you must have programming knowledge. Returning to the answers of artificial intelligence, note that no matter what you ask the artificial intelligence, it will always give you an answer, even if it does not know whether it is actually correct or what it wrote is true, but it was created to always answer. More than once, when I tested the operation, I received an incorrect answer, but the artificial intelligence still claimed that everything was correct. So you always need a programmer who will supervise what will be generated.
7) AI-generated code is not secure
How can you imagine managing the entire project by an external tool, such as artificial intelligence, when there is a lot of our sensitive data that we do not want to share with such tools. Companies will never share such data with such tools, because it is unknown what artificial intelligence will do with them. We don't know what's inside, we don't know what the code is, so we can never trust it 100%. Likewise, AI cannot have access to any government data or other medical information about patients, it all has to be well secured and no AI can have access to it. All the more so because it later learns this data and makes it available to others or simply relies on this data to propose further solutions. How can you be sure that AI won't use your code and it won't be stolen? None. What's more, he will definitely use this code, which is why companies are now banned from using AI to design applications.
8) A programmer's job is not just about writing code
Something that most people outside the industry don't realize is that programming is not just about writing code. Programming is finding the best solution to a problem. A programmer's work consists of various things and stages, such as learning about the problem, designing a solution, looking for an optimal solution, collecting requirements, analysis, planning tasks, communicating with other team members, correcting errors, planning, changing assumptions and then writing the code. testing or implementation. Will AI replace the programmer at each of these stages? I don't think so.
9) Companies have a lot of old systems and applications that AI cannot cope with
Many applications and large systems have been written a long time ago, and companies now maintain and develop these solutions. There is no chance that AI would be able to find its way into these projects and develop them further on its own. This is impossible and only people who have no idea what a programmer's job is actually like can say such things. It is difficult for AI to be able to find its way around some legacy code, especially without any documentation, apart from the fact that these companies would like to share this code with AI. Also remember that customer requirements are complex and, above all, dynamic and change frequently.
10) If there are any layoffs now, they are not due to the fact that they were replaced by AI, but there was too much work before
Some artificial intelligence fanatics connect the dots of recent layoffs of programmers from some large companies and claim that they have been replaced by artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, I have to worry these people, because although there have indeed been some high-profile layoffs, they have nothing to do with artificial intelligence. The point is that in recent years, when there was a lot of news about a certain virus in the world, the demand for programmers' work increased significantly. There were a lot of orders and companies simply hired too many programmers and now there would have to be layoffs in these companies. However, such programmers are not unemployed for long and find work in other companies that simply did not employ so many people at that time. Don't connect this fact with artificial intelligence.
11) There have long been plenty of tools to make programming easier, such as creating pages using drag and drop
As you probably know, there are currently a lot of tools that allow you to create simple websites using drag and drop. Such solutions have been known for many years and, as you can see, the fact that such a possibility is available does not mean that this solution replaces programmers. What it comes from? The point is that in these tools you can only create a very simple website that has no logic and you cannot do anything more complicated there. It's similar with WordPress, which also allows you to create websites, but you can only create simple things there. Although, to be honest, many non-technical people don't understand it and they still need a programmer to create the website for them. Nowadays, these WordPress websites are used more by programmers and technical people than by ordinary people.
Let me tell you a funny story, just a few days ago I was watching an Instagram story from a popular entrepreneur who was delighted that he had added a few links, photos and some text in a certain tool using drag and drop and was able to create a website based on this. He then shared some comments that programmers in the age of AI should be afraid for their jobs. This just shows how ignorant and clueless people are about programming. He doesn't understand that such tools are not even based on artificial intelligence, they have been available for many years and he can create some shoddy, simple websites with it. Nothing complicated.
Generally, even if there are some tools that make it easier to create websites, ordinary people do not want to use them, they prefer to outsource such work to a professional rather than have to deal with it themselves. Take another example - just because you know how to do something to your car, e.g. replace filters, oil, discs, pads, whatever, doesn't mean you want to do it, but you usually prefer to entrust it to a specialist, and you you can focus on what you are good at.
12) Faster programming does not mean laying off programmers
As I mentioned, artificial intelligence can support the work of programmers, and that's OK, it's good for that and it's worth using it to help you at work. Thanks to this, we will increase the efficiency of our work and programming will simply be faster. However, this does not mean that because programming is faster, we can deliver value faster and create applications, it does not mean that programmers will be fired. Thanks to this, there will be more work and maybe even higher earnings, rather than layoffs. Nowadays, everything is moving towards digitalization, so programmers have more and more work.
13) AI is good at solving problems that someone has already solved
Artificial intelligence is based on code that was previously created, it copes well with problems that someone has already solved and may have access to this code or information. It relies on code that has already been written, on problems that have already been solved, and proposes its solutions based on this. However, new problems constantly appear and artificial intelligence cannot cope with them.
14) It's hard to see inside
How does artificial intelligence work? It has some input data, then goes through some built-in logic, i.e. mechanisms that it has learned on the basis of some data, and returns us some information or data. However, the problem here is that we do not know what is inside and it is difficult for us to correct it. So if it generates a bug, it won't be easy to fix it because we don't have access to what's inside. In this case, the artificial intelligence has to learn again, it may actually correct the error that we point out to it, but in turn it may make another error again, so in this case it is difficult for us to react to any errors in the solution.
15) Still, it's worth using it as an assistant, but not as the main tool
I wanted to make this a separate point, because even though artificial intelligence will not replace programmers, there is no point in fighting it, but treating it as an aid in programming. We can use it as an assistant in programming and it can work well in this role. A human must be able to solve a given problem, and AI can only help us in some simpler, repetitive tasks.
16) Many people envy programmers
People who envy programmers are happy to share these clickbait titles because they want to attack us and put such pins on us. Unfortunately, many people from outside have a bad opinion of programmers because they envy our work. These people think that programmers just sit in front of the computer, click a bit and earn a lot of money. Now they have found some clickbait titles saying that artificial intelligence will replace programmers and they are happy to share this information further. It is suggested not to worry about it and continue on your way. Develop yourself, learn programming and find your dream job.
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