'Maybe We Do Need Less Software Engineers': Sam Altman Says Mastering AI Tools Is the New 'Learn to Code'

In a caller question and reply pinch Stratechery's Ben Thompson this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, 39, said erstwhile he was graduating precocious schoolhouse "the evident tactical point was [to] get really bully astatine coding."

Now, Altman says: "The evident tactical point is conscionable get really bully astatine utilizing AI tools."

He's not alone, arsenic galore apical tech CEOs person noted that AI is getting amended astatine penning code. Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that AI will constitute all codification for package engineers wrong a year. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, told Joe Rogan successful January that the institution is processing caller AI that will beryllium capable to constitute "a batch of the codification successful our apps."

Related: Amazon Cloud CEO Predicts a Future Where Most Software Engineers Don't Code — and AI Does It Instead

Altman told Stratechery that mastering AI devices is "the caller version" of learning to codification and that astatine slightest half of codification authorship is presently being automated.

"I deliberation successful galore companies, it's astir apt past 50% now," Altman said. "But the large point I deliberation will travel pinch agentic coding, which nary one's doing for existent yet."

When asked outright if his institution would still beryllium hiring software engineers, Altman said that correct now, location is plentifulness of work, but successful the agelong run, the nonstop AI they are moving connected mightiness extremity up thinning retired the occupation market.

"My basal presumption is that each package technologist will conscionable do much, overmuch much for a while," Altman said. "And past astatine immoderate point, yeah, possibly we do request little package engineers."

Related: Microsoft Leaked Internal Survey Reveals How Software Engineers Really Feel About Their $205,000 Median Pay