- OpenAI’s Sam Altman predicts AI coding could mean fewer engineers later.
- AI already writes over half the code in many companies.
- Experts say AI handles simple tasks, but humans still tackle big ideas.
Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, dropped a big hint about the future of tech jobs in an interview with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson. He said AI coding tools are getting so good that software engineers might not be as needed down the road. For now, AI helps each coder do way more work, but Altman thinks it could eventually shrink the number of engineers companies hire. He believes the trick today is getting great at using AI, not just writing code like in the old days.
Altman shared that in lots of companies, AI already writes more than half the code—think over 50%! He’s excited about “agentic coding,” a next step where AI might take on even bigger coding jobs, though that’s not here yet. Other tech leaders agree: Anthropic’s Dario Amodei says AI could write all code in a year, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan their apps will soon lean heavily on AI-made code. Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu chimed in on X, saying AI is perfect for the boring, repeat stuff—about 90% of what coders do.
Vembu explained there’s “easy” coding AI can knock out and “hard” coding humans still need to handle. He calls it “accidental” versus “essential” complexity, a nod to an old tech book, The Mythical Man-Month. AI’s great at clearing out the simple mess, but Vembu wonders if it can invent totally new things without humans pointing the way. For now, Altman and others see AI as a helper that’s changing tech jobs fast—and maybe making some of them disappear later.
