Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s chilling warning about artificial intelligence has sparked anxiety and heated debate online, especially among software engineers and tech workers across the world. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Amodei said AI could soon do what software engineers do today, and much faster than people expect. According to him, that shift could happen in just six to twelve months.

Anthropic CEO’s warning on AI replacing software engineers

“I have engineers within Anthropic who say I don’t write any code anymore. I just let the model write the code, I edit it. I do the things around it,” Amodei said during a discussion with The Economist’s Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis was also part of the conversation.

Amodei went on to make an even bigger claim. “I think… I don’t know… we might be six to twelve months away from when the model is doing most, maybe all of what SWEs do end to end,” he said, adding that the real question is “how fast does that loop close.”

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While Amodei admitted there is still uncertainty, especially around areas like chip manufacturing and training large models, his words were enough to send social media into overdrive.

‘H-1B workers not needed anymore’? Internet reacts to Anthropic CEO’s AI warning

Amodei’s remarks came at a time when the job market is already feeling the pressure of AI, with massive layoffs happening across the tech world. Many of these cuts, CEOs say, are due to companies shifting more of their investment toward AI. At the same time, the US tech workforce has seen a dramatic shift. The country, once heavily reliant on H-1B visas, has not only introduced a hefty fee under its “America First” approach but also replaced the long-standing lottery system with a wage-weighted selection process. American sentiment toward H-1B visas is clearly turning negative.

One person questioned US immigration policy, asking, “Why do we still import H-1B visas?” Quoting Amodei, they added, “If this is true, India’s ‘tech talent’ will become nearly worthless in the next few years.” 

The comment triggered a wave of heated responses. “Then still why are you hiring for all these roles?” one user wrote on X. Some comments took a more political tone. “H-1B visas were never really needed, they are dead now. We learned during Covid that tech roles could be fully remote,” one user said. “So why exactly are we importing Indians to work hybrid environment?”

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However, not everyone agreed that software engineering is on the brink of extinction. “Nonsense,” one user said. “It can’t actually write code. It just assembles code from whatever exists. Lucky if you get a snippet that works.”

Others pointed out that large parts of the industry still rely on older systems. “Most Indian IT companies provide maintenance and support for legacy applications built on age-old technologies,” one person added. “AI won’t be able to replace them. Any new development will definitely be powered by AI.”

Some argued the issue goes far beyond India. “Not just India’s, but the US as well or anywhere else. It’s a generational issue,” wrote one user. “Everyone is adapting to this new reality. Indian engineers are hustlers, hardworking and fast learners.”

“Software engineering was the ultimate labour arbitrage play,” one post read. “Now that Dario Amodei is predicting full automation within 6 to 12 months, that play is dead.” The user added that between high visa costs and AI doing “the heavy lifting,” the entire talent import model could collapse.

Amodei’s warning on AI power and control

Beyond jobs, Amodei also spoke about the risks of artificial general intelligence, a point that has worried many experts. He has previously warned that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, though he also said the labour market hasn’t seen a massive impact yet, apart from visible changes in the coding industry.

On geopolitics, Amodei argued that restricting advanced chip sales to China is crucial. “Not selling chips to China is one of the biggest things we can do to make sure we have time to handle this,” he said, warning of “grave” consequences if rivals catch up too fast.