As a web developer, I would have to be living under a rock to not have heard a little something about “A.I.” or “artificial intelligence” by now and speculation about our future with it. I admit that I have fallen prey to the doom and gloom of many predictions of automation and replacement of jobs.

As someone who has been working to make a career of programming for several years now, it gives me pause to hear that the field I have been working towards could potentially not need me and I could get stuck in the food industry indefinitely. Fortunately, there are many who believe systems like “ChatGPT” and other budding A.I. technologies will only create a further need for my skills!

*Breathes a deep sigh of relief*

In an article titled “ChatGPT Isn’t Coming for Your Coding Job”, Zeb Larson at Wired compares ChatGPT’s emergence and contributions to programming to what compilers did when they were introduced and allowed programmers to move on from working in binary which was arduous. He explains that the work only gets more complicated as the grudge work gets eliminated. With A.I. being able to produce code itself, many cumbersome tasks that require manual coding will be easier and quicker to tackle. This frees up programmers to focus on and do bigger and grander things. Eliminating redundancy and time spent writing code for more menial tasks means programmers can focus on more complex items that will lead to more dynamic end products all around for everyone to enjoy.

I can sleep a little better at night knowing that I have the ability to harness the power of these technologies and put them to use for me, rather than letting them replace me.