Why Your Coding Skills Are More Essential Than Ever In The AI Age
ZDNET, Tuesday, December 30th, 2025
We've been hearing incessantly how AI tools and vibe coding mean less need for human coders and programmers. Maybe it's time to rethink the logic of that argument.
AI -- and all that associated vibe stuff -- is not diminishing the importance of human coders. If anything, AI requires even more human oversight when it comes to generating and implementing software, argued Michael Li in a recent article in Harvard Business Review.
Such tools make coding experience "more -- not less -- important," Li said. AI cannot replace real software engineers and coders. He pointed to a recent study that suggested "that while developers estimated that AI made them 20% faster, it actually made them 19% slower."