this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Engineering is about trust. In all other and generally more formalized engineering disciplines, the actual job of an engineer is to provide confidence that something works. Software engineering may employ fewer people because the tools are better and make people much more productive, but until everyone else trusts the computer more, the job will exist.
If the world trusts AI over engineers then the fact that you don't have a job will be moot.
People don't have anywhere near enough knowledge of how things work to make their choices based on trust. People aren't getting on the subway because they trust the engineers did a good job; they're doing it because it's what they can afford and they need to get to work.
Similarly, people aren't using Reddit or Adobe or choosing their cars firmware based on trust. People choose what is affordable and convenient.
What's being discussed here is the hiring of engineers rather than consumer choices. Hiring an engineer is absolutely an expression of trust. The business trusts that the engineer will be able to concretely realize abstract business goals, and that they will be able to troubleshoot any deviations.
AI writing code is one thing, but intuitively trusting that an AI will figure out what you want for you and keep things running is a long way off.