> Grief is exactly what many engineers (not just programmers) are going through right now. They (we) are going through the process of coming to terms with the death of something we loved - not a transformation, but death - and figuring out what comes after that.

Very well put.

A large part of that "what comes after" is grappling with the next hard question: after the death of the craft we loved, are we - our skills, our intuition, our problem solving - even needed anymore?

Even if we still are now, will there be a time when there also won't be a place for us?

I believe we're still needed, because AI has no "want", no intrinsic motivation, therefore no real sense of alignment with real-word goals. Without us humans in the loop, the industry would become self-drinking beer.

Whether or not the folks with the money agree with this is another issue...