Why I think AI cannot replace programmer? (at least for now)

[aeric]

It can help you to find the pieces of puzzles, but it has no idea how to put them in place or solve it.
Not all pieces found are correct so you still need to figure out yourself.

For example you want to build an e-commerce system.

1. It can help you to do copyrighting for the home page, provided you issue the right prompt. You may need to fine tune the sentences.

2. It can give you a simple wireframe of design, which you can also find in w3school or steal from some tutorials. You still need time to choose the one matches your liking or what is in your mind.

3. It doesn't have experience working on real projects, so it just based on information from the internet which may be biased. For example, jQuery is a good JavaScript library but it will tell you go for the popular hype.

4. It can give you some sample code on a specific parts. It wont do for you from A to Z. At one time, it may give you the login page. You need to ask second time for register page, forgot password, etc. When you reach certain stage, it may give you something unrelated to what it already said before. It is like someone forgetful, absent minded or not paying attention?

I think it can't control the operating system or use the computer hardware. I think it doesn't know what tools need to be install or complete the installation process and configure the software.

I think it can't attend meeting with human and jot down the notes about a project then apply the requirements.

I think it can't think creatively or out of the box. It has no responsibility.

There are more.

Human programmer is still useful and know how to put the puzzle together.

Images generated by Dall.E 3 from Windows Copilot.

 

[JohnC]

The way I look at technology is that if something is absolutely impossible to do, then I'm 99.9% convinced it is impossible to do.

However, if something is technically possible, but just extremely hard to accomplish at this time, then 99.9% it will absolutely become possible and the time for it to become possible is inversely related to it's need - the greater the need, the shorter time for it to be possible.

 

[Computersmith64]

I agree @aeric. The problem with programming is that there's no "one size fits all" solution to just about any problem you can think of - so the chances are that you can ask AI for a solution & you'll get something that seems like it will work, but once you look deeper into it you'll find that it requires tweaking.

Android Studio now has AI (via Gemini) built in & I've asked it stuff for fun a few times to see what it comes up with. Mostly it gives me answers that are useful, but they're pretty much what I would have found if I'd looked in the documentation. When it has given me code snippets they are generally functional but not necessarily appropriate for what I'm trying to do. That could be my fault for not phrasing the question in exactly the right way of course.

The thing I like least about using AI to write code is that it takes all the fun out of it. I write code because I enjoy it & I find it challenging. If I was able to achieve the same thing by asking an AI engine a couple of questions, then what's the point?

Btw - although Gemini AI is currently free while in preview, there's an implication that they will start charging for it when it's properly released.

- Colin.