Will computer programers become obsolete in the age of AI?

[BobLouis]

[slatyb]

No, they won't. People have been saying this for decades: COBOL replaced assembly language programming, but not programmers. SQL replaced a lot of COBOL code, but not programmers. Then there were systems like "Software through Pictures". Now we have "no code" and "low code" that allows people to build some simple applications. This is all based on a misunderstanding of the real work of programmers -- figuring out what the users really want including the edge cases.

[BobLouis]

So my degree is safe for now? I am almost done with it.

[slatyb]

It's quite safe. Demand for people with strong coding skills is very high. How are your skills? Were you able to solve the programming problems in your classes by yourself? Do you have an understanding of fundamental data structures? If you were asked to work in an unfamiliar programming language, could you learn it on the job?

[BarryLiverstone]

Been hired to do freelance recently. The client asked chatGPT to write code and it did. But they have no idea how to update the production site with the new code. See why it’s a valid skill set?

[richardcory]

Not as it is now. AI can be of some help. but it makes so many serious mistakes that I find it takes longer to debut it than to write myself. Its nowhere near able to "understand" what you want it to do.

That could of course change

[WhitneySnow]

I don’t think so. We will still need someone to program the AIs.

[balyai]

Not possible. AI is not accurate when it comes to coding. I've tried it