Is the end of the code as we know it?

A year ago (or so) WIRED in this article announced the end of coding and the rise of the so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI). The claim is that soon enough computers will be trained by skilled engineers instead of being programmed to follow explicit, step-by-step instructions typically written by a software developer.

Soon as I was reading this article questions started pilling up. So is coding dead; do we need to worry for this 12+ million developers around the world for becoming obsolete? Do I personally need to find another job, as someone who makes his living by helping corporates improving the code quality of their systems?

Well, my answer will be a plain “No”. And not because AI won’t succeed. On the contrary, it will. I am already enjoying for instance The Roll (a very simple form of AI) in my iPhone that classifies and rates the aesthetics of my photos.

But coding is here to stay for the following reasons:

• Essentially an AI is a piece of software, albeit intelligent. This means that from a functional point of view, it can be extended with further training, but from a technical point of view someone needs to program it. So, you may improve your photo classification algorithm by feeding him more pictures, but what happens if for instance there is a bug in that algorithm? What happens if you want to migrate this algorithm into a different platform?
• It’s human nature wanting to have control over things. So, it is difficult for me to imagine people trusting an AI without having the reassuring feeling that someone has access to their constituent parts and most importantly to its DNA, that is the source code instructions.

On the other hand, will this mean that the nature of coding will change? Here the answer is a plain “Yes” this time. Coding will change, but in the same way as it is being changed the last 40 years or so. From Machine Programming to Procedural programming to Object Oriented programming to Service Oriented programming and so on. In other words, technology strives for more abstract forms of programming that will depict more accurately our physical world and will be easier to implement and maintain.

So, fellow programmer, don’t worry, your job is about to become more interesting, not obsolete.