Software Development: How a profession is changing

One of the branches of economy where artificial intelligence (AI) is already widely used is software development. It has turned out that large-language models are very good at writing code in all sorts of programming languages, even machine code. Many software developers have already been sacked because they aren't needed by their employers any more; AI tools such as OpenAI Codex, Claude Code or Microsoft Copilot have replaced them. These tools can be handled by people with moderate computer skills, without a training in information technology and without experience working as programmers.

Don't get me wrong: Technical expertise is still needed in software development. But the truly difficult aspects of programming, the ones that used to require a lot of brainpower, are now handled by AI in the blink of an eye. These are the very tasks that, until now, have primarily attracted people with above-average intelligence to the field of software development. Now, after a certain amount of training, even people of average ability are capable of developing usable software.

In the future, written communication skills will be the most important talent a software developer can have. He or she must be able to describe precisely what the AI is supposed to build for him/her.

While I used to have to solve many problems in my professional work, now all I have to do is describe these problems in natural language. The AI takes care of the rest.

AI has also helped me adopt a more relaxed outlook on life: Because of my mathematical talent and my awareness of how rare it is among the general population, I used to believe I had to use my gift to benefit others. But now we have an abundance of intellectual resources. This relieves highly gifted people of the pressure they have, in some cases, placed on themselves up until now.

Claus D. Volko

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