Yegor Bugayenko5 min readintro
Non Cogito, Ergo Quid Sum?
Summary
The essay argues that LLMs are already outperforming human programmers and rapidly becoming cheaper, which could render software engineers obsolete. It warns of societal consequences and doubts that handcrafted code will retain premium value.
- LLM‑generated code now accounts for a measurable share of commits (≈4% in early 2026) and is improving in quality.
- LLM performance and cost are falling fast – roughly 13× cheaper each year, outpacing hardware cost declines.
- As AI matches or exceeds human coding speed, many knowledge‑worker roles risk obsolescence, raising economic and mental‑health concerns.
- The market premium for "hand‑crafted" code is unlikely to survive; human‑written code may become a disclosed attribute rather than a selling point.
Engineers, managers, and policy makers should care because AI‑driven code generation threatens the future of software development jobs and broader societal stability.
5/10
