Less Coding? Altman Says Master AI Instead

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggests a shift in tech skills. Forget intense coding, he says mastering AI tools is now key.

Speaking with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson, Altman, 39, pointed out that while coding was the “obvious tactical thing” when he was younger, the landscape has changed.

“The obvious tactical thing is just get really good at using AI tools,” Altman stated.

This sentiment echoes throughout the tech world. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts AI will handle all coding within a year. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg revealed similar AI development for their apps during a conversation with Joe Rogan.

Altman believes AI is already automating over half of code authorship. “I think in many companies, it’s probably past 50% now,” he noted, anticipating a bigger impact from “agentic coding.”

While OpenAI still hires software engineers, Altman acknowledges potential job market changes. “My basic assumption is that each software engineer will just do much, much more for a while,” he said, adding, “And then at some point, yeah, maybe we do need less software engineers.”

The future may lie in guiding AI, not writing lines of code.