> Yeah, you don't HAVE TO do anything your employer tells you to do. And they don't HAVE TO keep you employed.

Depends where you are. In the UK at least they can't force a material change of role on you or sake you for refusing. They can make you redundant, of course, which amounts to the same thing if you are relatively new to the industry.

> Your employer doesn't actually care about this.

That is true.

> They care about whether or not you make them more money than you cost them.

Unless there is a miraculous improvement in efficiency very soon, that balance is going to change a bit at least temporarily as all the investment capital that the industry is currently haemorrhaging starts to get called in (or it turns out that half the money being passed around in circles no longer really exists as soon as things turn as the value is being propped up by people believing in the value).

If that doesn't happen and the hype continues then dev work is set to be commoditised as much as hospitality work, and we'll end up screwed whether we've played the game or not. It is some way into happening for designers and writers, the bottom has fallen out of employment in accountancy and other areas already too, dev work in various forms is very much next if things continue on the current path.

> what they're being directed to do

I'm not being directed to go AI, yet. That is definitely something that is blocking the light from the other end of the tunnel, but how long that tunnel is has yet to be determined.

> probably not the best bet for someone to keep around

If being kept around means a future sitting in a room alone with nothing for company but Claude/similar, I'd much rather not thanks.