Lately, my LinkedIn feed has become an echo chamber of AI evangelists worshiping at the altar of the big 4: Dario, Sama, Nadella and Musk. The narrative they’re pushing is consistent: Programming is dead, and AI is the new architect.
This is what I'm actually seeing:
The Pay-to-Play Problem
Take xAI’s Grok or other gated models. There’s a growing trend of forcing developers into expensive subscriptions just to access mediocre code generation. As someone who values logic and brainpower over a massive API budget, this pay-to-play barrier feels like a tax on actual intelligence. I’d rather use my brain for free than pay for a tool that hallucinates my dependencies, even if it cost me more time.
"Vibe Coding" vs. Engineering
We are currently being lectured by people vibe coding glorified To-Do apps. They’re running these massive campaigns telling experienced engineers that we’ll be replaced by a prompt.
Ironic, the people loudest about the "end of coding" are often the ones who:
Can't debug a memory leak without a chatbot.
Pivot into PM roles where they manage lunch schedules rather than technical debt.
Have no skin in the game when it comes to long-term maintainability.
So in conclusion
AI is a tool, not a replacement for the fundamental understanding of how systems actually work. If you don't understand the project, you aren't coding at the speed of thought but rather you're just making mistakes faster.
The industry doesn't need more hype; it needs more people who actually care about the craft.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.