When AI replaces programmers
The year is 2030, and artificial intelligence has replaced all programmers. Let’s see how this brave new world works out:
Hi! I’m John the Software Genie, here to help you with all your software needs.
Hi, I’d like some software to calculate the volume of my house.
Awesome! May I have access to your location?
Why do you need to access my location?
I will look up your house in your city’s GIS database and use its dimensions to calculate its volume.
Sorry, I didn’t quite state that correctly. I want some software that will calculate the dimensions of any house.
Awesome! What is the address of this house?
No, look, I don’t want anything with addresses. You can have multiple apartments in a house, and anyway some structures don’t have an address, or are just being designed… and the attic and basement doesn’t always count… How about… I want software that calculates the volume of an abstract apartment.
Awesome! What’s an abstract apartment?
Grrrr. I want software that calculates the sum of the volumes of some rooms.
Awesome! Which rooms?
You know what, never mind, I’ll use a spreadsheet.
I’m sorry Dave, I can’t let you do that.
What.
Just a little joke! I’m sorry you decided to go with a spreadsheet. Your usage bill for $153.24 will be charged to your credit card. Have a nice day!
I’m not worried
Back to the present: I’ve been writing software for 20 years, and I find the idea of being replaced by an AI laughable.
Processing large amounts of data? Software’s great at that. Figuring out what a human wants, or what a usable UI is like, or what the real problem you need to solve is… those are hard.
Imagine what it would take for John the Software Genie to learn from that conversation. I’ve made my share of mistakes over the years, but I’ve learned enough that these days I can gather requirements decently. How do you teach an AI to gather requirements?
We might one day have AI that is as smart as a random human, an AI that can learn a variety of skills, an AI that can understand what those strange and pesky humans are talking about. Until that day comes, I’m not worried about being replaced by an AI, and you shouldn’t worry either.
Garbage collection didn’t make programmers obsolete just because it automated memory management. In the end automation is a tool to be controlled by human understanding. As a programmer you should focus on building the skills that can’t be automated: figuring out the real problems and how to solve them.