AI won't replace human coders anytime soon, says Sundar Pichai
What's the story
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said that artificial intelligence (AI) will not replace human coders anytime soon. In a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, he emphasized that AI would serve as a powerful partner to enhance the capabilities of human programmers. This comes amid fears that advanced AI tools could make many jobs redundant in the near future.
Productivity boost
30% of code at Google now uses AI-generated solutions
Pichai revealed that around 30% of code at Google now uses AI-generated solutions. He said, "The most important metric, and we carefully measure this, is how much has our engineering velocity increased as a company due to AI." He added that the number is now at 10%, which shows the positive impact of AI on productivity within the company.
Expansion strategy
Google plans to hire more engineers next year
Pichai said that despite the rise of AI, Google plans to hire more engineers next year. He explained this decision by saying, "The opportunity space of what we can do is expanding too." He believes that in the near to mid-term, AI will free up more time for engineers to focus on creative problem-solving and brainstorming with colleagues.
Creative empowerment
AI could democratize creativity, says Pichai
Pichai also highlighted that AI could democratize creativity by putting more creative power in people's hands. He said, "It'll attract, it'll put the creative power in more people's hands, which means people create more." This could lead to an increase in the number of engineers doing diverse tasks, further emphasizing his belief that AI will enhance human capabilities rather than replace them.