AI will surpass humans in coding this year, but jobs not at risk: Openai CPO Kevin Weil

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, and it may soon become better than humans at coding. OpenAI's Chief Product Officer (CPO), Kevin Weil, has predicted that AI will surpass human abilities in competitive coding by the end of this year. However, Weil believes that AI will not completely replace human jobs. Instead, it will work alongside humans, improving efficiency and productivity.

AI’s rapid growth in coding

Kevin Weil shared his views during a conversation with Varun Mayya and Tanmay Bhat on their YouTube show Overpowered. Weil said that AI is progressing so quickly that it will soon outperform human coders. He mentioned that OpenAI's upcoming model, GPT-03, is already ranked as the 175th best competitive coder in the world.

“At the rate we're going, I would be surprised if it's 2027,” Weil said, suggesting that AI might surpass human coders much sooner than expected. He explained that the rapid improvement of AI models will make it easier for non-engineers to create software.

Weil compared AI’s progress in coding to its success in chess. He argued that AI passing human coders will have a much greater impact than AI winning at chess because coding affects almost every part of life and business.

“Imagine all the things you can do if you don't need to be an engineer to create software,” he said.

Weil believes that AI's ability to code will empower more people to create new technologies without needing advanced programming skills. This could lead to a major shift in how software is developed and how businesses operate.

While AI is expected to become better at coding than humans, Weil emphasized that it will not entirely replace human workers. He believes that AI will act as a powerful tool to help people perform better in their jobs rather than taking jobs away.

"You’re going to be using it day in and day out to augment yourself in your job," Weil said. "People are going to increasingly be sort of managers of these AI employees that will do a lot of the basic work for them."

Weil’s view is that AI will handle repetitive and technical tasks, allowing human workers to focus on creative and strategic work. Instead of manual coding, workers will provide instructions to AI and guide the development process.

Weil is not the only expert who holds this belief. Andrej Karpathy, one of OpenAI’s founding members, had earlier stated that "the hottest new programming language is English." This means that instead of learning complex programming languages, users will be able to simply ask AI to write code for them using natural language.

Karpathy described this shift as "vibe coding." He explained that developers will give general instructions to AI models, which will then create the actual code. This will make the coding process faster and more efficient.

“There’s a new kind of coding I call ‘vibe coding’, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists," Karpathy said. "It’s possible because the LLMs (large language models) are getting too good.”

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AI’s impact on jobs and the future

Weil acknowledged that AI could change the job market, but he emphasized that it will not lead to widespread job loss. Instead, AI will create new opportunities for workers to focus on higher-level tasks.

AI will likely handle repetitive and technical coding work, but human developers will still be needed to design systems, solve complex problems, and oversee projects. Weil believes that human creativity and decision-making skills will remain essential, even if AI becomes more skilled at coding.

Learning to code manually might become less important over time as AI improves. However, Weil and other experts believe that understanding the principles of coding and problem-solving will still be valuable.

Weil pointed out that AI will make it easier for people from non-technical backgrounds to develop software and bring new ideas to life. This could lead to increased innovation and the creation of new products and services.

OpenAI’s rapid progress in AI development suggests that major changes are coming to the tech industry. AI’s ability to code more efficiently than humans could lead to a shift in how software is created and managed. However, experts like Weil and Karpathy believe that AI will work alongside human workers rather than replacing them completely.

AI’s growing role in coding reflects a broader trend in automation and artificial intelligence. As AI becomes more powerful, it will continue to reshape industries and change the way people work. However, human creativity and strategic thinking are expected to remain critical in guiding AI’s development and use.

Weil’s prediction highlights the potential for AI to become a key tool in software development, helping businesses and individuals create new technologies faster and more efficiently. While AI’s rise in coding is expected to be disruptive, experts remain optimistic that it will create more opportunities than it eliminates.