Bad news for coders?

Where in the article does the author reference this '25% code by AI line' that Pichai said?

The next question is in what areas is this AI providing gains? Saying 25% is quite vague to conclude coding isn't good work.

AI has become central to Google's offerings, with new tools being introduced across Search, Cloud, and consumer products. In Search, AI features are expanding the scope and adaptability of search capabilities. Google has also launched personalised AI chatbots called “Gems,” powered by its Gemini AI model, designed to provide more customised interactions.
Search benefits but cloud gained much more. I don't think Gemini is putting anyone out of work at Google.

Operating income also saw significant growth. Google Services reported $30.9 billion in operating income, up from $23.9 billion a year earlier. Google Cloud experienced an even more substantial increase, with operating income reaching $1.95 billion compared to $270 million last year. This indicates that Google's efforts in developing and selling AI tools and services are yielding considerable profits.
Who says the people who got laid off are all coders? Google hires people from many categories.

What was behind the layoffs? A cooling economy is good enough. Happens all the time.
 
"Pichai during Alphabet’s Q3 2024 earnings call said that 25% of new code at Google is generated by AI, with human engineers reviewing and approving the machine-created code." from other news article.

it is doing the grunt work. neat.
Reviewing code isn't grunt work. It's a job that takes experience. Which is then used to improve the next batch.

It's not clear in which areas this code is being used. Next android will not be 25% AI generated ;)
 
Correction, we are doing the grunt work of peer reviewing machine generated code.
^he is though

Since when are peer reviewers grunts?
I know it's needed but we lose all the creativity and innovation which I thought came from writing beautiful code.
You are seeing this in a binary way. In some categories this is more efficient and usually not much scope for writing beautiful code.
 
Correction, we are doing the grunt work of peer reviewing machine generated code.
I know it's needed but we lose all the creativity and innovation which I thought came from writing beautiful code.
that reminds me of :p

real_programmers.png
 
In some categories this is more efficient and usually not much scope for writing beautiful code.
In some yes but not all. Eventually machine generated code will cover all. We don't know what category that 25% is unless you work in G. I don't want to sound alarmist but my point is that this will lead to loss of creativity unless people find peer reviewing others code as creative ;)
that reminds me of :p

real_programmers.png
Duh .. real programmers still use Google ..
 
In some yes but not all. Eventually machine generated code will cover all.
That has been the case ever since Visual Basic and similar showed up for UI work. I'm sure the idea has been around even ten years prior in more specialised areas.

Very specific areas that can be automated. This is the next iteration but not the last like is being frequently insinuated.
We don't know what category that 25% is unless you work in G.
Exactly but doesn't stop people making attention seeking click bait stuff.
 
Eh .. UI and UX is actually a pretty creative space .. it's a misleading comparison
It made the job much easier meaning lower skilled people working faster to computerise office related stuff. Like for the whole world.

Think forms for data entry people to input into a database and for managers to evaluate, monitor resources and generate reports.

SAP takes it to an industrial level.
 
click bait
It is not click bait. I would say that its a foregone conclusion. In fact I am surprised that its only 25%.
Which category are you talking about?

I'm referring to bread & butter IT work here. Boring ass pack mule work.
You brought up the categorization. I am telling you machine generated code will be there for everything. Define bread and butter IT work or Boring ass pack mule work at Google ? @mathrisk can then chime in.
 
Well you could phrase what VB and the like did thirty years ago and it would be empty talk click bait because reality didn't turn out that way. That it brought down the cost to develop such systems meant demand exploded for such systems. More jobs. Not less. And permanent jobs for those tasked to maintain such projects.

The problem I have with these topics is people with no experience of software coding or AI putting the two together and coming up with sensationalist statements. Which is surprising because the opposite should be true. Not hard to call BS on such narratives without knowing much about either two because the agenda is obvious.

There is zero critical thinking displayed either.

Just that something bad will happen in the future....
 
Just that something bad will happen in the future....
If you are referring to loss of jobs, then I don't think that is likely. The same job will take a different form still performed by a human. I fear that we may lose our creative spirit on the way (take it easy, let the AI handle it, etc) but let's see. I don't think machines can replace humans in software development (especially when the software is meant for external consumers). Besides, now there is an increasing urgency of regulation, which will have a definite impact on all of this - how ? We will have to wait and see.
 
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