r/webdev • u/Proud-Confidence7290 • Nov 26 '23

Question Will AI decrease demand and salaries?

Hello everyone.

I am new to web development and it goes well so far.

I'm bit scared of AI development. Let's say you needed 10 developers for a project before ChatGPT and now you need 8.

With the development of AI, we will need even less.

Why do people think AI won't decrease demand and salaries of web developers? It's logic for me, what am I missing?

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '23 edited Nov 26 '23

Then you wouldn't have made this comparison because Auto Pilot has absolutely nothing to do with why we have pilots and wouldn't ever be a reason to not have pilots. The same principles do not apply to web dev which is not critical and not heavily governed.

So maybe you just momentarily forgot.

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u/captain_ahabb Nov 26 '23

You're so close to understanding my original point. Autopilot didn't replace pilots because there's more to being a pilot than just giving inputs to the control surfaces. Generative LLMs won't replace SWEs because there's more to being a SWE than just writing code.

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '23

I get your point, I literally said that

Quoting my post

I get your point

But that isn't even close to the correct comparison. The reason for Pilots is strict laws, health and safety and socialcConcerns, it's the same reason we can't have true self driving for now and laws are being introduced to prevent it.

SWE just does not have this, there's no governing body, health risks or social concerns over Bob the builders Wordpress Site to sell Firewood and Type 2.

I get your point, but the analogy doesn't fit because the reasons why pilot exist are absolutely not the same reasons why SWE need to exist.

A pilot will be needed 100% of the time. a SWE might be needed 10% of the time. So the capacity, the demand and the salaries will be affected.

The closest thing is "blame game", PM's love a human to "shout at/blame" when things go wrong. So maybe that's close?

I just don't think this is truthfully applicable.

In 30 years when AI can do everything Software Dev, I reckon we'll still require pilots.

Anyway, I appreciate your post here.

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u/longebane Nov 26 '23

lol. So basically your replies were just one big, “WeLL AckchyuallY”

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '23

No? Are you 13?

It was "this doesn't fit the comparison" because the reasons for pilots are not and never will be the same for SWE.

The grown ups are discussing here mate. So cringe.