News

AWS CEO and GitHub Agree on One Thing: AI Coding Is the Future

• By David Ramel
• 08/22/2024

Since the debut of GitHub Copilot years ago the industry has been predicting that AI coding is the future, with many trying to quell the fears of job losses amid the transformation. That refrain has been something along the lines of: AI won't replace developers, it will help developers.

Well, it might do more than that, with the industry all over Business Insider's recent report about AWS CEO Matt Garman predicting a possible future where "most developers are not coding."

That view, bolstered by a new report from GitHub itself that sheds light on just how much AI has changed the software development scene, might cause some to recalibrate their views on the impact of AI coding.

"Software engineers may have to develop other skills soon as artificial intelligence takes over many coding tasks," is the lead sentence in the Business Insider article titled "In a leaked recording, Amazon cloud chief tells employees that most developers could stop coding soon as AI takes over."

The recording was a June internal fireside chat.

The article points out Garman "was sharing advice rather than issuing a dire warning that developers will go extinct because of AI," but the impact of AI on software development might be more profound than many have thought. Even if developers don't lose their jobs, they might have to change their job descriptions.

On the very same day that the Business Insider story broke this week, GitHub published its AI in software development 2024 survey report, finding almost all developer respondents had used AI coding tools.

Key findings of the report as presented by GitHub include:

• The generative AI wave in software development continues to grow. This year, we expanded our survey to 2,000 respondents -- and almost everyone (upwards of 97%) reported that they have at some point used these tools both in and outside of work. (That's not to say every one of their companies has sanctioned the use of these tools.)

  

• While survey respondents say their organizations are welcoming AI, there's still room for progress. Survey data indicates that a strong majority (59-88%) of respondents across all markets reported that their companies are either "actively encouraging" or "allowing" the use of these tools. To maximize the benefits of these tools, organizations should have a roadmap, a clear strategy, and policies in place to ensure wider adoption happens through building trust and driving measurable performance metrics.

  

• Software development teams are recognizing more benefits with AI coding tools than previously reported. Some of these include building more secure software, improved code quality, better test case generation, and faster programming language adoption. This ultimately translated to time savings that they could use for more strategic tasks.

GitHub did toe the line on the common industry bromide mentioned above, saying. "AI doesn't replace human jobs -- it frees up time for human creativity."

So, for now, there aren't too many "dire warnings" of coders going to the unemployment line because of AI, but the debate on the exact impact of AI on software development continues. Just yesterday, for example, Forbes published "Is AI Coming For Coders' Jobs? It's Much More Interesting Than That."

It mentions Atlassian's State of the developer experience report 2024, where 62 percent of respondents said AI-based tools didn't improve personal productivity at all, or only slightly.

The Forbes article authored by Jason Andersen notes the advent of great new AI technology while pointing out the industry is still working toward broader adoption and more useful developer-oriented capabilities.

"However, among the general public there is a misconception that developer jobs are a prime target for AI replacement," the article said. "I can understand this perception when anyone can go to an AI website, ask for some code and it just comes back to you. But after looking deeper at current and future product roadmaps for major software vendors, I have reached two conclusions. First, developers will continue to be valued resources for some time to come -- years, at least. Second, we are entering a second generation of developer-assistance technologies that greatly enhance developer jobs -- without threatening to replace them."

So "AI is here to help rather than replace" is still the standard industry line -- for now.