Key Takeaways
- Artificial intelligence in coding is raising concerns similar to historical fears about machines: not mass unemployment initially, but a change in the nature of work.
- Software engineers report their jobs are becoming more routine, less about deep thinking, and increasingly fast-paced due to AI tools.
- Companies are adopting AI to enhance productivity, with tools reportedly increasing output significantly.
- Tech giants like Amazon see AI as a way to boost efficiency and accelerate development, fundamentally changing coding practices.
For generations, workers have harbored a common anxiety: that machines would take their jobs. This fear dates back at least to the industrial revolution.
However, when technology reshaped industries like auto-making and even secretarial work, the immediate outcome often wasn’t fewer jobs. Instead, roles were often “degraded,” broken down into simpler, repetitive tasks performed at high speed.
Small workshops of skilled mechanics made way for vast assembly lines. Personal secretaries were replaced by typing pools and data-entry clerks. Labor historian Jason Resnikoff described how workers “complained of speed-up, work intensification, and work degradation.”
A similar pattern now appears to be unfolding with artificial intelligence, particularly in software coding, one of the fields where AI has been most quickly adopted.
As AI integrates into the workforce, many white-collar professionals worry about widespread unemployment. While joblessness has seen a slight uptick and layoffs could eventually become more common, the more immediate impact for software engineers seems to be a shift in their work’s quality.
Some engineers say their tasks are becoming more standardized, less thoughtful, and, very importantly, much faster. The pace of work has significantly increased.
Companies appear convinced that, much like the assembly lines of the past, AI can significantly boost productivity. Information reported by the New York Times points to a recent paper by researchers at Microsoft and three universities.
This study found that programmers using an AI coding assistant called Copilot, which suggests code snippets, saw a key measure of their output increase by more than 25 percent.
At Amazon, a company making substantial investments in generative AI, the culture around coding is changing rapidly. CEO Andy Jassy, in a recent letter to shareholders, noted that generative AI is delivering significant benefits for companies using it for “productivity and cost avoidance.”
Jassy emphasized that speed is essential, warning that competitors could gain an edge if Amazon doesn’t deliver what customers want “as quickly as possible.” He specifically identified coding as an activity where AI would “change the norms.”
