Worried AI Will Replace Developers? You’re missing the point.

Today’s LLMs fall short of humans on almost all traits you seek in a colleague — developers too. There is no reasons to believe that this won’t be true for the foreseeable future. I mean, will an AI agent have the same ability for empathy, creativity, and autonomy, that a developer does? While the speed of evolution of LLMs is impressive, we aren’t moving towards any sort of human feature-parity.

So why do we at Databutton talk about our product as the world’s first AI app developer? Well, we come at this from a totally different perspective where replacing human traits with AI doesn’t enter. Instead, we are talking about all the people out there who aren’t developers and don’t have the time or money to hire them. They aren’t considering whether to hire a human or an AI. Their alternatives are either to hire a freelancer they can barely afford, or have time to manage, or to let their app idea stay a dream. For them AI is making a massive difference. This isn’t anti-human, in fact it is the opposite. With AI, people with drive and insights, but who lack money, network, or education, can actually compete in this world. It is levelling the playing field and thus democratising our modern world.

So, despite that the AI’s of today aren’t the best coders, writers, filmmakers, or anything else, they are still better at producing code, text, or film, than most of us. In many (if not most) cases, you don’t need the best of the best, you need good enough. If you want to make your business idea a reality, you will need to build product, and you will need design, marketing, sales, and efficient working tools. Today, that usually means that you need capital, network, and education, so you are able to hire the right people and so that investors are willing to invest in you. With AI, we are moving towards a world where a couple of highly motivated inspired people can do it all just good enough. Then, it is up to the market if that business should live or not, and not random chance or a privileged investor class.

But, what will happen to the freelancers?

If people are choosing AI over freelancers, doesn’t that mean that people will be without a job? Ironically no, this is where I think we will see how AI fuels growth in practise. Firstly, the age of LLMs are sparking a massive need for companies to invest in software. The way value is delivered is changing and so is the way we work. The only way to keep up is to invest in software. We already have a global developer shortage, and that shortage is about to become acute. Secondly, AI also enables today’s freelancers to change both what they offer and how they offer it. This is democratization in practise, where a single freelancers can compete with VC backed startups and big consultancies alike.