Aryan Kumar (name changed), a mid-level coder, has no fears of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over his job. “AI is helping coders like me to automate certain tasks. Beyond that, you need a human to verify the results generated for accountability, accuracy and for complex tasks,” he says.
Many data scientists and AI experts echo Aryan’s thoughts. They feel that AI is helping coders enhance their job performance rather than taking over their roles. “AI frees up coders to focus on designing robust architectures, solving complex problems and improving user experiences. Essentially, AI acts as an assistant, enabling coders to achieve more with their time and skills,” Krish Ramineni, CEO Fireflies.ai, told FE.
Tools like GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Replit help coders by suggesting the next line of code, correcting the syntax, fixing bugs and running debugging on top of the code. This speeds up the coding process and allows coders to concentrate on more significant aspects of their projects. AI is also used by programmes like DeepCode to examine the code for possible errors and make corrective suggestions.
“Debugging and correcting code errors can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Debuggers with AI built into them can examine your code, find potential problems and provide solutions. It’s similar to having a professional standing over you, pointing out the precise locations of the problems,” Kamlesh Patil, a programmer at CoRover.
Other specific tasks taken care of by AI include generating docstrings, adding comments, formatting code and creating unit tests. AI can also make things faster by writing a blueprint of the initial version, which the coder can edit to make things more specialised. We also have tools that will turn a simple UI-UX design into code. However, experts said that AI cannot replace the nuanced understanding and innovative thinking that human coders bring to problem-solving. “There are tasks that AI cannot handle, such as understanding human emotions, culture and values, which are crucial for designing user-centric applications,” Kartik Narayan, CEO, Staffing, Teamlease Services, said.
Another area where AI will help coders rather than replace them is code testing. This is an essential, but time-consuming task. AI can create tests for the code automatically and run them to look for flaws. “Much like editing an essay,” Patil said.While AI has also proven instrumental in automating laborious processes like developing boilerplate code and carrying out extensive testing, it cannot perform hardcore coding that involves complex logic and architecture design. Such tasks will continue to require human expertise. “Even with all of AI’s advantages, worries about job security are understandable. But, it’s critical to recognise that even when AI streamlines some tasks, human judgement and experience are still necessary to guarantee the calibre and applicability of our work,” Patil said.
Some believe that in a few years, the situation will be similar to robotic process automation (RPA) revolutionising the BPO industry. The RPA does some of the call-related work, thereby increasing the productivity of each employee. This has led to competitiveness in the market.
“Similarly here, if you have a large application, there will be some little pieces that can be automated using GenAI. But certain hardcore design issues, or where there’s a lot of complexity, will keep creeping up,” Vijay K Thadani, vice chairman and managing director, NIIT, said.He also added that automation will make certain aspects of the work far less equal, but it’s an over-alarmist view that no programmers will be required. According to François Chollet’s (French software engineer and creator of Keras) prediction recently on X, “the estimated number of professional software engineers today is 26 million, which would jump to 30-35 million in five years”.
As AI technologies advance, they will automate many routine coding tasks and some entry-level coding roles may evolve or diminish because of AI. Advanced AI tools, like the recently announced Devin, can take on entire coding projects and handle them from start to finish. “But there is always a need for human intervention, oversight and creativity in software development,” Dattatreya R Hullur, principal data scientist, Happiest Minds, said.He added that AI is poised to enhance the capabilities of developers rather than replace them entirely, ultimately leading to more innovative and robust software solutions.
