Ai can now write code faster than any human. So why do I still need to learn programming?
As someone who uses AI to code every day, here's what they don't tell you...
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Auston Lim
2/20/20262 min read
Here’s a confession, I have been using Ai everyday at work to help me write code! And in fact Ai can write code faster than any human!
So if can write code faster than any human, is it still worth learning to code?
From my own experience, what I've found is that even though Ai can write code, it does not have the ability to understand problems correctly and as a result the output can be irrelevant from the actual problem. The code that is written does not solve the problem, so therefore it ends up being a huge waste of time!
In fact, studies have shown that the code generated by Ai contains 1.7 times (that’s 170%!) more bugs than human written code! [Reference]
Now does that mean Ai is completely useless?
No, I think actually Ai is still very useful and does very well at generating the "skeleton" of the code which helps save me a lot of time.
For example, recently I was tasked with the job of improving an existing date dropdown for an accounting product. And by using Ai, I was able to drastically speed up the time to deliver the feature.
How I did that was first I did the research on which library to use, then how to build it to fit with the styling of all our existing components and then I described it to the Ai. Then the Ai produced a date picker that had all the necessary pieces that fits my description and all that was left for me to do was to connect to the filter and trim off the extra parts. This is much faster than just building from scratch!
So the point is Ai is a genuinely powerful tool, but only when you know enough about the problem, the system that the solution has to be built in and also the coding principles in order to evaluate and implement the output.
Do you want to have more job opportunities in the future? Do you want to be able to stay relevant in the job market? Do you want to be able to shape the future?
If any of those matter to you (and they should) then learning to code isn't just relevant, it's your biggest competitive advantage in an AI-powered world.
Something that I wished someone had told me when I first started learning to code was join a community, learn together with others, don't be a hermit. I would have avoided so many mistakes if others had pointed out my mistakes early on.
The best time to start learning to code is now, and you don't have to start alone!
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