I feel like nobody ever takes these predictions to the next level. So no company will need us, so why does anyone need the services/products of all these companies that no longer need software developers?
Why do I need to use the products of a company if I can just tell my ai what software I need?
> Why do I need to use the services of a company if I can just tell my ai what software I need?
Because the AI software can’t produce it itself, it requires access to the capital and raw materials to produce it (or to someone who already has.) The companies, even if they ditch any of their human laborers not needed for resource extraction and production, will retain capital and property interests in raw materials to extract.
(Unfortunately, unless you are profiting from capital, or are one of the residual laborers needed for production/extraction/delivery, you won’t have money for your AI to give to those companies for the things you want, so telling the AI won’t help.)
I see your point about physical resources, but I was thinking more about software products. Why pay for say MS Word when I can just list all the word processing features I want to AI and tada there is my custom version of word.
Why is Microsoft (insert any software company) necessary if they can just replace all developers with AI is what I was getting at.
> Why pay for say MS Word when I can just list all the word processing features I want to AI and tada there is my custom version of word.
I mean, if AI gets to that point, you don’t need to pay for Word, sure. (Of course, if AI gets to that point, what are you going to be using Word for, anyway?)
> Why is Microsoft (insert any software company) necessary if they can just replace all developers with AI is what I was getting at.
Microsoft is a heavy investor in OpenAI, and incorporating GPT-4 in its offerings. The thing they plan on you paying them for in the future is “access to the AI”.
The very first time I ever was paid to write software, in 1982, I asked my client to tell me what he wanted. Then I gave that to him, and he complained he didn't like it. He really wanted something else. He was bad at saying what he wanted, and he was bad at knowing what he wanted. There is an old saying (I think from Jerry Weinberg): Make it possible for people to write programs in plain English, and you will find they are not able to write plain English.
The reason you need an intermediary is because you don't have the patience or training to completely specify your system. And if you don't completely specify it, then you are just going to get what everyone else gets. (If you DO have the pateince and training, then congratulations you are an engineer.)
If you are content with getting something generic, then you don't even need to write software in the first place, just download Word!
Why do I need to use the products of a company if I can just tell my ai what software I need?