Tech Explained: Here’s a simplified explanation of the latest technology update around Tech Explained: AI software engineer jobs ‘grim’ warning as powerful tools reshape coding in Simple Termsand what it means for users..
AI software engineer jobs may look very different as soon as 2026, if one of the people closest to the technology is right.
AI tools that ‘practically solve’ coding
Boris Cherny, the creator of Anthropic’s Claude Code AI coding agent, told Y Combinator’s Lightcone podcast that he believes the title “software engineer” will start to “go away” as artificial intelligence takes over much of the coding work. He described AI progress as “insane” and said that “today coding is practically solved for me, and I think it’ll be the case for everyone regardless of domain.”
Claude Code, Anthropic’s agentic coding tool, can read entire codebases, edit files, run commands and integrate with popular IDEs, allowing developers to describe features in natural language while the system writes and refactors the code. These capabilities are designed to sit inside existing workflows, from the terminal to editors such as VS Code and JetBrains, and can even turn tracked issues directly into pull requests.
AI software engineer jobs shifting to ‘builders’
Cherny suggested that as AI systems automate more of the routine programming, human roles will move toward defining problems, shaping products and supervising automated agents. He said teams at Anthropic are already seeing “every single function” coding to some extent, including product managers, designers and even finance staff, blurring traditional technical boundaries.
Elsewhere in the industry, startup founder Jesal Gadhia told Business Insider that AI agents now write all of his company’s code, something he said would not have been possible in 2024. At another firm, most senior engineers reportedly spend more time reviewing AI-generated code than writing it, yet still deliver what has been described as an “unprecedented amount of code” over the past year.
What this could mean for AI software engineer jobs
These shifts suggest AI software engineer jobs may become less about typing out logic and more about steering powerful tools, checking their output and translating business needs into precise instructions. Titles may change, Cherny argues, perhaps towards “builder” or product-focused roles, but demand for people who understand systems, users and risk is likely to remain, even as the nature of day-to-day work is transformed.