Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 117 posts

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#82

Post by beyondCritics »

As a matter of fact, most software is produced in house tailor made for companies. Since AI is rising, this will make this software less costly, hence the demand for custom made software should increase, since this makes money for the company. So if you are doing something very simple in terms of AI capabilities, you might be in trouble, but otherwise you will simply be asked to do more work in the same time. In any case, the profession will change drastically in the near future, hence you should be alert and willing to learn.

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#83

Post by amelius »

jstx1 wrote: post #46
amelius wrote: post #38

Most programming is just plumbing. AI will probably replace that. That leaves algorithm research, and so we can then spend 100% of our time on hard CS.

This feels wrong in many different directions. - Replacing plumbing work isn't trivial for AI at all. - AI can also do algorithms research. - Most developers aren't qualified or interested in doing algorithm research. - There isn't that much demand for algorithms research, not enough to match the pool of developers anyway.

I think your first two points are in contradiction.

The last two points, I agree with.

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#84

Post by zelphirkalt »

When/if we reach that point of development, most other jobs will have been automated away by us, the programmers. Only fair, that ours gets automated away too then.

I think the true question is, whether we are going to treat human beings like trash, useless, now that their job has been automated away, or we as a society find a good way to deal with this and steer into a happier future.

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#85

Post by sAbakumoff »

There are many other things you could choose to worry about:

    - nuclear conflict erasing 95% of humanity
    - deadly pandemic erasing 67% of humanity
    - devastating climate crisis erasing 80% of humanity
    - impact event erasing 100% of humanity
IMHO any of these events have higher probability when some AI taking over our jobs

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#86

Post by mromanuk »

alignItems wrote: post #10

If AI technology continues to advance and is able to take over most jobs, it will fundamentally change the way society functions. In a capitalist economy, people are expected to work hard in order to produce goods and services, which drives economic growth. But if AI can do all of the work, there may be no need for people to work at all. This could lead to a new economic model, one where prosperity is not tied to the…

I couldn't agree more. I always thought that when AGI is achieved, it will change the fundamental paradigms of the economy, whether capitalist or communist. For example, Marx considers that value comes from human labor, according to the theory of value-labor (modifying nature, creating goods and services through intelligence in a conscious and deliberate manner). If an AGI replaces the human and can create value-labor, all of these theories will become false, paving the way for a new era, hope based on solidarity and equality of humanity with a new abundance of resources and better distribution.

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#87

Post by lonelyasacloud »

>Should I worry? Do you think that some form of AI will be able to do the job of an average programmer > any time soon?

Yes.

> If yes what is your estimate?

5 to 10 years will see a noticeable decrease in the number of programming jobs as we know them today.

> And how would you try to AI-proof your career

Historically tech changes end up leaving a small rump of niche based practitioners, e.g. Blacksmiths servicing riding stables and racing yards, while the majority either exit the industry or take up the skillsets for the new technology. To future proof against AI, it's either be about finding the niche in a shrinking market or changing skillsets.

In terms of those skillsets.

Without Artifical General Intelligence there is going to be a need for someone to translate human requirements into something that the "machine" - however sophisticated - understands _and_ verify the results afterwards. That sounds very much like some form of Behaviour Driven Development.

As to niches; there are a lot of complex, ill-defined but essential Cobol, Perl, PHP and Python systems floating around. Verifying a new translations is going to be expensive. QED; specialists keeping those existing systems ticking along is likely to be a thing long enough to make a career from.

Re: Ask HN: Will AI put programmers our of work?

#89

Post by carapace »

> Will AI put programmers our (sic) of work?

Yes. The questions are: "How soon?" and "Which programmers?"

> Should I worry?

Are you satisfied doing a job that could be done by a simple script?

> Do you think that some form of AI will be able to do the job of an average programmer any time soon?

This is already the case.

Additionally, consider that so many programmers are so bad at their jobs that the average is dismal, and also that computer programming isn't that hard.

> what is your estimate?

I have a comment here on HN predicting it would occur by approximately last year, so we are slightly behind schedule from my POV.

> How would you try to AI-proof your career?

I wouldn't. The very idea is counterproductive. I want to maximize my effectiveness, not lock-in a dead-end "career" of make-work that could be done by a machine.

I think what you're really asking is, "How can I earn a living once I can no longer do anything that is more economically valuable than what machines can do?"

Personally, my answer to that is to change the entire economy to a Star Trek mode or something like that. Or go live in a cave in the woods. Not actually great options, eh?

But yeah, broadly speaking, if you as a working programmer could write a script to replace yourself I feel you're obliged to do it, eh?

Not only is that your job: to write software to solve problems, to economically benefit the company you're working for, but it's also the way to avoid becoming a "zombie", working a pointless job just for an excuse to take home a paycheck.

Stay home and go on welfare (along with everybody else), we can call it Universal Basic Income so nobody's ashamed that machines are better at everything than they are.

Post reply on HN