Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott has made a bold prediction that AI will be responsible for generating 95 percent of all codes, within the next five years. However, despite this significant change, he assures that human developers will still play an important role in the software engineering process.

During an appearance on 20 VC podcast, Scott discussed how AI would capture the wholesale of code writing, saying “very low is going to be-line by line-human-written code.” However, he clarified that this does not mean that AI would completely change human participation. According to Scott, while the AI ​​will handle the heavy lifting of coding, the necessary and creative aspects of software engineering and the problem-composition will remain in the hands.

Scott, who has been programming for more than four decades, compared this current change to similar changes, which he saw as a child in the 1980s. He recalled how the “true” nature of coding was once debated between the programmer, some said that the assembly was the only real way to know the language. He said that, over time, such ideas faded as the industry moved towards high-level programming languages. In Scott’s view, increasing dependence on AI in coding will follow a uniform trajectory.

Although Scott admits that AI will significantly change the software development scenario, it believes that it will not eliminate the need of a skilled human programmer. Instead, he sees AI as a tool that can reduce obstacles for entry, making coding more accessible. Scott said, “Think about that to increase the level of all,” Scott said. He said that AI will enable more people to code for simple tasks, such as creating websites, without the need for special developers.

However, for more complex problems, Scott said that human expertise would be important. “If you are trying to solve the world’s most difficult computational problems, you will need computer scientists,” he said. These highly skilled programmers will be able to use AI devices to deal with challenges from sophisticated methods that AI cannot address alone.

Scott also highlighted how AI teams would reduce the needs of teams to estimate and make specific codes for user needs. Instead, the users themselves will be able to create a solution with the AI ​​tool. This can streamline development processes, which can currently eliminate many of the required mediation roles.

Are human software engineering jobs at risk? What are the tech leaders saying?

Further, the CTO of Microsoft believes that the role of engineers may develop, but they will not be obsolete. Rather, small, more agile teams will be empowered to achieve large -scale projects with the help of AI. While echoing the feelings of Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan, Scott predicts a future where A-Assisted Coding enables a small team to complete the task that usually requires a very large group. Scott said, “Small teams are much faster than big teams,” a high -motivated team of 10 engineers, saying that powerful AI tools, can complete remarkable tricks.

The idea of ​​AI is becoming more prominent instead of human coud, in which many industry leaders weigh. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodi recently predicted that AI could generate 90 percent code within six months. Openai’s Chief Product Officer, Kevin Wayle also suggested that by the end of this year, AI could improve humans in coding.

Openai CEO Sam Altman suggested that demand from software engineers may decline as AI may be more capable. While he admitted that the engineers are currently in demand, he predicted that the number of essential engineers could decrease as AI takes more tasks. “Each software engineer will be able to do much, but over time, we may need fewer engineers,” he said.

Riplight CEO Amjad Masad has also suggested that the job of human coders may be at risk. “As AI agents are better, it would be a waste of time to learn how to do the code,” he said.