Anna Gutowska explains the paradigm shift in software engineering towards "agentic engineering," where AI agents execute goals defined by developers. She differentiates this from traditional, AI-assisted, and vibe coding, highlighting the increased importance of human oversight, orchestration, and verification in a world of probabilistic AI systems, and how this redefines the developer's role.
fast.ai founder Jeremy Howard critiques the 'vibe coding' illusion, arguing that AI-assisted tools create a slot machine-like experience that erodes true software engineering skills. He revisits the origins of ULMFiT, champions interactive programming for building intuition, and reframes AI risk from existential threats to the dangers of power centralization and human enfeeblement.
Jessica Kerr and Diana Montalion explore a pragmatic approach to AI-assisted coding, framing AI not as a replacement for developers, but as a powerful tool for automating tedious work like typing, scaffolding, and error handling. They argue that AI's strength lies in executing well-defined, laborious tasks, which frees up developers to focus on the nuanced, high-level work of systems thinking, architectural design, and discerning the right response to complex problems—skills where AI currently falls short.
Andrew Ng discusses the rise of agentic AI, moving beyond scale as the sole driver of progress. He explores how AI-assisted coding is creating a new startup paradigm, shifting the bottleneck from engineering to product management and favoring technical founders. Ng argues for smaller, highly-skilled teams and predicts AI will profoundly empower individuals across all job functions.