Cover Story: How AI Is Reshaping the Programming Landscape

The AI revolution is boosting productivity, but could it spell the end of the programmer?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries worldwide, and programmers who build and refine this technology find themselves at the forefront of its disruptive impact.

In a rapidly evolving programming landscape, AI is automating tasks, streamlining processes and boosting efficiency — allowing users to create entire applications simply by describing their needs, with no coding required.

This wave of innovation, led by global internet giants, is forcing some 28 million programmers to confront a challenge that could ultimately redefine their careers.

On Sept. 6, California-based startup Replit launched Replit Agent, an app generation platform that claims to “turn ideas into fully functional applications without any coding experience.” Amjad Masad, the CEO of Replit, demonstrated how users can simply type requests into a browser dialog box, allowing the AI to automatically write code, create the app and adjust features based on further instructions — all without the need to input a single line of code.

Anysphere, an OpenAI-backed startup, recently saw its AI-powered coding app, Cursor, gain popularity on social media for its ability to generate webpages from simple language prompts. On Sept. 23, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said that AI will significantly affect the labor market in coming years, though he expects most job transformations to progress more slowly than anticipated.