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1 in 3 Developers Fear AI Will Replace Them (computerworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the they-aren't-alone dept.

dcblogs writes: Evans Data Corp., in a survey of 550 software developers, asked them about the most worrisome thing in their careers. A plurality, 29%, chose this answer: "I and my development efforts are replaced by artificial intelligence." Surprisingly, this concern about A.I. topped the second-most identified worry, which was that the platform the developer is working on will become obsolete (23%), or doesn't catch on (14%). Concerns about A.I. replacing software developers has academic support. A study by Oxford University, The Future of Employment, warned that the work of software engineers may soon become computerized. Machine learning advances allow design choices that can be optimized by algorithms. According to Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data, the thought of obsolescence due to A.I., "was also more threatening than becoming old without a pension, being stifled at work by bad management, or by seeing their skills and tools become irrelevant."

11 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you are worried about AI replacing you, you must be doing something very routine, not requiring anything new or creative.

    1. Re:really? by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hmmmm, yeah. That's tough, making hover states. Now that you mention it, that complexity is so high, AI will never figure it out. Web front-end developer's jobs are safe. No need to learn another language.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  2. Bring on our intelligent replacments by lzcd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I try desperately each and every day to make myself redundant through writing better software... but, alas, it has yet to happen.

  3. More should be worried ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comparing the crop of programmers back in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's to programmers nowadays, and the type of code that they have produced, more of the current-day programmers should be worrying about being supplanted by AI

    Back then (1960's to 1980's) most of those who were doing programming tried all kinds of ways to sharpen their coding skills, and their efforts were not wasted

    Despite not having all the tools / toys that the current crop of programmers get, programmers of yore produce codes which were far better than what we have right now

    The chief problem with current crop of programmers is that they treat programming as a way to earn a living, while programmers of yours treat what they do as their passion

    Without the 'passion' factor the codes produced today are not much different from what AI can produce - and in fact, in some cases AI are producing better codes than their human counterparts

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:More should be worried ! by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Today's programmers should be worried about being replaced by the 20-somethings, just like when they were 20-something, they did the same to the 40-year-old "codgers."

      If you're over 30, you're far more likely to be replaced in the next 5-10 years by some wet-behind-the-ears punk than by a robot. And if you're in your 40s and still coding, the market says you're well past your "best before" date.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:More should be worried ! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Funny

      "You can still make it in the 40s and coding"

      I have known occasional devs who have done this, using subterfuges like surreptitiously moving open-office partitions so that nobody else sees them directly and getting missed in layoffs. They have confederates, generally the late-twenties types who are already running scared, bring them water bottles and vending machine food and carry away 'honey buckets'. By night, a paper-towel sponge bath in the restroom with the broken security cam and they're good.

      I knew one C# developer who held out until age 44, when he revealed himself with an inopportune sneeze during a VIP tour of the office. I remember the HR goons hauling him off, white beard trailing on the floor, babbling something about 'Fortran' and 'core dumps.' He was able to snag an interview in Computerworld, which was still printed on paper back then, titled something to the effect of "World's Oldest Programmer."

    3. Re:More should be worried ! by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They should worry about being replaced by Deepak on an HB-1 visa.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  4. 1 in 3 developers fear AI will replace them by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Funny

    and the other 2 who have actual experience with AI and know how shitty it still is, laugh at him

  5. What are those developers developing? by ebonum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Many of us who get paid well, get paid well because we can take vague, poorly written specs, figure out the real world business requirements and fill in all the missing parts. Somehow I don't see AI figuring out what a human means in a particular business context any time soon. btw. If you do write perfect specs, you've essentially written the program. The hard work (the valuable work) is done. Picking good design patterns and coding it up is easy.

    I hate the term AI. There is no intelligence in it. "AI" programs are still computer programs that execute the series of steps it was told to execute. In certain cases they seem smart because they have been trained on a huge set of scenarios (You are quickly programming the program with the massive data set and associated "answers" instead of hand coding X million cases.). These "intelligent" programs still fall victim to "garbage in, garbage out" just like any dumb computer program.

  6. Re:model generated code by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    AI taking over my job as a Software Engineer is the -last- thing I'm worried about. The developers who are afraid of such a thing must have no idea about AI.
    Developing complex programs in the -last- thing an AI will be able to do. They will be able to have conversations, walk, drive, bring your kids to school and pretty much do everything else before being able to write a typical, high complexity software program.

    If that point is ever reached it means we have reached the "singularity" wherein an AI is able to program a better version of itself, exponentially increasing its own intelligence.

  7. Re:Wtf? by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    2011 Sandy Bridge and 2015 Sky Lake are within 10% performance wise. That's what 2.5% per year? Would you still stand by your " _massively_increasing_ " Statement? Intel realized that CPUs were fast enough. Nobody is maxing out their CPU running day to day OS tasks anymore. They mostly sit idle, underclocked to save power and heat, only spinning up to full "turbo" power for brief spikes when loading a web page or a new program. Intel has famously been using these die shrinks not to improve computing power (what would consumers use it for??) but to improve thermal performance and more importantly battery life, as they fight for their lives in the mobile devices space.
     
    You have no idea what you're talking about.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.