As the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating a state of panic among professionals, it is often believed that advancement in AI will lead to fewer jobs in the near future.
Contrary to that notion, the GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke believes that the companies that best take advantage of AI won’t be using it to replace human labour. Instead, they will increase their hiring of increasingly efficient engineers.
“The companies that are the smartest are going to hire more developers,” Dohmke said on an episode of “The Silicon Valley Girl Podcast”.
AI supercharges productivity of developers
The developer platform CEO’s core argument is that AI acts as a multiplier for developers. “If you 10x a single developer, then 10 developers can do 100x.”
This means that with AI tools, engineers become significantly more efficient, allowing a smaller team to achieve more.
Access to coding solutions
AI tools will also make it much easier to learn how to program and simplify the process for those who are already professionals. “As the technology evolves, so will the capabilities of engineers,” he added.
He mentioned a positive aspect of AI, citing the hurdle of learning coding, especially when you’re stuck somewhere, and you have nobody at home or in your family or friends that can help you with that because they’re all nontechnical.”
“So, when we’re saying AI is democratising access, that’s what we mean. Everyone who wants to learn it can learn it.”
However, he cautioned against the misconception that AI will eliminate the need for professionals.
Though people may be better equipped to leverage coding for personal ends, in the business sphere, a deeper knowledge of the craft will still be required to best utilise AI, the GitHub CEO said.
“I think the idea that AI without any coding skills lets you just build a billion-dollar business is mistaken,” he said. “Because if that would be the case, everyone would do it.”
Hiring freeze is temporary
While some companies, particularly in the tech industry are currently pausing hiring or conducting layoffs while integrating AI, Dohmke views it as a “temporary effect”.
“This is the natural conclusion for the short term, we keep things stable and we’re trying to figure out how the market develops,” Dohmke said.
“But very quickly, I think we’re going to see people that say, ‘Well, wait a second, if I have one more productive developer, why wouldn’t I hire another one, and another one?”
Dohmke emphasised that there isn’t a single company that has completely eliminated developer workloads, even as programmers use AI to move through projects quickly.
“AI has already added more work to the backlogs. I haven’t seen companies saying, ‘Well, we’re draining all our backlog and we have almost nothing left,'” he said.
The golden age of software development
The CEO also said that it’s the “most exciting time” to be a developer. AI is transforming the programming process for the better.
“The dream of software development was always that I can take the idea that I have in my head on a Sunday morning, and by the evening, I have the app up and running on my phone,” he said.