The complexity has grown but not the quality. We went from writing ADA code with contracts and all sorts of protections with well thought architectures, to random crap written in ReactJS in web sites that now weigh more than a full install of Windows 95.

I’m really ashamed of what SWE has become and AI will increase that tenfold as you say. We shouldn’t cheer up on that, especially if I will have to debug all that crap.

And if it increases the number of engineers, they won’t be good due to a lack of education (I already experience this at work). But anyway I don’t believe it, managers will not waste more money on us, that would go against modern capitalism.

Oh yes, I'm with you. I didn't say I liked it. I am a low level munger and I like it that way - the lowest layers/oldest layers of the stack tend to be the pieces that are well written and stand the test of time. Where I see AI hitting is at the upper, devil may care, layers of application stack that will be an absolutely hellscape to deal with as a competent engineer.