A quiet shift is unfolding in the world of software, and it’s no longer limited to labs or demos. From full-fledged apps built without human-written code to compilers developed entirely by AI, the pace of change is startling even seasoned tech leaders. Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has now weighed in, pointing to a real example that suggests the traditional role of programmers may be under serious pressure. His remarks, triggered by an AI-built Bhagavad Gita app, have sparked fresh debate around jobs, creativity, and the future of work.
Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu took to X to flag what he described as a growing wave of AI-assisted code engineering productivity. He pointed to a recent example involving a Bhagavad Gita app as a sign of how quickly AI capabilities are advancing. According to him, Anthropic has gone far beyond small experiments, with its Claude AI reportedly building an entire C compiler—an achievement he stressed is not an easy engineering task by any standard.
Alternative livelihoods
Vembu cautioned that for those who rely on writing code for a living, it may be time to seriously think about alternative livelihoods. He included himself in that group, clarifying that his view does not come from panic but from calm acceptance of where technology appears to be heading. In his assessment, the speed and depth of AI’s progress in software development cannot be ignored anymore.
He also shared that he had an extended discussion with Gemini Pro on how the AI revolution could reshape the global economy. Vembu described the interaction as being akin to debating with an extremely intelligent economic philosopher. During the session, he even asked the AI to critique its own arguments, something he said it handled impressively well.
Vembu’s conclusion
Based on this exploration, Vembu outlined two broad ways the future might unfold, largely determined by who owns and controls AI technology and who collects economic rent from it. In his more optimistic vision, AI could make most human technological prowess redundant, pushing technology into the background where it becomes trivial and invisible, much like digital watches today. This, he believes, could free people to focus more on life beyond screens—family, nature, soil, water, art, music, culture, sports, festivals, and faith. He added that such a life is best lived in small, close-knit rural communities, noting that he already lives this way and sees it as deeply fulfilling if rural poverty can be addressed.
At the same time, Vembu acknowledged a far darker possibility. The pessimistic scenario, according to him, is one of centralised control, where power and benefits from AI are concentrated in very few hands, creating a dystopian imbalance.
Anish Moonka’s Bhagwad Gita App
Vembu’s comments were in response to a post by Anish Moonka, an investor, whose personal experience offered a striking illustration of AI’s current capabilities. Moonka shared that just a week earlier, he did not know how to write a single line of code. Wanting to read the Bhagavad Gita daily and dissatisfied with existing apps, he decided to build one himself.
The result was a fully functional iOS app called 10 Minute Gita, now live on the App Store. The app offers 239 daily readings from the Bhagavad Gita, original Sanskrit shlokas with transliteration, verse-by-verse translations and commentary, personal daily reflections, streak tracking with a calendar heatmap, shareable verse cards with multiple gradient themes, bilingual support in Hindi and English, light and dark modes, adjustable fonts, and complete offline functionality after download.
Zero lines of code
Moonka detailed that the total cost of building the app included a Claude Max subscription, a ChatGPT Pro subscription, and the Apple Developer fee. The most striking detail, however, was that he wrote zero lines of code. Claude Code generated everything based on plain English descriptions, despite Moonka’s non-technical background, while Codex reviewed the output. For him, the biggest shift was clear: the barrier to building software was no longer coding, but simply knowing what problem needed to be solved.
Together, Vembu’s warning and Moonka’s experience paint a picture of a tech landscape changing faster than many expected, raising difficult questions about skills, livelihoods, and what human contribution will look like in an AI-driven future.