OpenAI may be competing fiercely to develop the top AI coding agent, yet its chairman remains committed to traditional methods.
During a recent episode of John Collison’s “Cheeky Pint” podcast, Bret Taylor expressed his feeling about transitioning away from writing code. “I am trying to get to a world where I’m not writing code,” he admitted, adding that it’s emotionally challenging for him. “I have a hard time not caring.”
Taylor’s experience reflects a growing concern among those in the AI and tech sectors, whose careers are being reshaped by advancements in intelligent AI. Boris Cherny, the developer behind Claude Code, remarked that Anthropic’s competing coding tool has “practically solved coding.
Despite these shifts, Taylor emphasized the importance of “correctness” and “robustness” in his work, yet acknowledges the need to lessen the emotional weight he places on coding. “I’ve been trying to force myself to not care because I feel like I won’t be a self-actualized software engineer in the future if I’m too attached to that artifact, which used to be so central to me,” he explained.
Many software engineers are beginning to reevaluate their roles as automation becomes the norm in coding. Some experts suggest that manual coding may become an artisan skill, drawing parallels to saddlemaking in a world focused on automobiles.
David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, noted earlier this year, “That’s a luxury that perhaps is akin to what a modern saddle maker enjoys when you go, ‘Oh, the lettering is just right, and the stitching is just right.’ But you’re no longer part of the main production for transportation.” He added, “And I’m like, ‘Well, so what? I’ll keep making my handwritten code saddles for my enjoyment as long as I can.’”
Although Taylor is open to interacting with OpenAI’s Codex, he remains uncertain about the future capabilities of these emerging tools. “I also think, as you imagine, all the tests that you care about, it showing you demos and mockups,” he reflected. “I wonder what the future integrated development environment, for lack of a better term, will look like in that world.”
While he humorously mentioned crafting “bespoke artisanal code,” Taylor acknowledged that coding was previously “my entire life.” He is still navigating the changes that the era of AI will bring. “I was proud of the elegance of the code that I wrote,” he remarked. “But if I still care about the craftsmanship, what do I want? I haven’t quite visualized it yet.”
