They Said AI Would Make Engineers Obsolete

Philippe Kahn, the Santa Cruz inventor who created the first camera phone photograph in 1997, pushes back on predictions that AI will make software engineers obsolete. He argues the opposite: AI is the next chapter in a long line of tools, from compilers to high-level languages, that expanded what engineers can do. Generating code is only one piece of the job. Judgment, trade-offs, privacy, and accountability still require people. Kahn calls for "enlightened engineers" who pair curiosity and rigor with intellectual humility, asking not only "Can we build this?" but "What happens when we do?" More powerful tools, he writes, demand greater responsibility. Read Kahn’s LinkedIn post to learn more.

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