Remix.run Logo
palata a day ago

I don't think it will, for multiple reasons:

1. AIs are really good at doing the equivalent of copy-pasting code you don't understand from many places, running the compiler and moving stuff around until it compiles. But whenever I find something slightly challenging, no AI remotely gets close to the solution. I can literally put everything in one function, explain to the AI why it doesn't work and why the solutions generated by the AI don't work over and over, and the AI never gets to the actual solution. For that, we need a human.

2. It's true that software quality is generally bad already and has been declining even before AIs. Security is really bad. But we at least need some basic sanity. You can't have an AI include random unchecked libraries forever, and you can't even provide a list of allowed libraries because AIs may well end up generating the malware in your code. You need someone who can read and understand the code to keep the bad security we have today, otherwise it will get even worse.

3. All the examples of vibe coding nowadays seem short-sighted: what happens when you vibe code millions of lines? How does that work, when does it just implode entirely? We already talk about how Microsoft may have just lost skill and how they may not be able to produce the same quality as they did at their peak, what happens when literally nobody understands the code?

4. For the better or worse, being more productive has never meant working less. When humans get a new tool that makes them more productive, they just produce more instead of working less. Companies will keep hiring programmers even if those are more productive because of AI.

AI will probably stay as a tool for programmers. But it won't take their jobs.