Last week I wrote about how, despite the trending chatter, I don’t believe AI will fully replace developers in the short term.
Today I had a conversation with a colleague about this topic, and another interesting consideration arose.
If AI writes the apex code, who’s ultimately responsible for it? That is, if the code causes harm or damage, who is accountable? Is it the person that entered the prompt? Their manager? Perhaps someone else?
It’s an important ethical question, since the answer isn’t immediately obvious.
If a non-technical manager writes the prompt, but they are unfamiliar with code, should they blindly trust the output? If not, then shouldn’t a skilled developer validate the output? In which case, the responsibility should lie with the developer, whether they use AI or not.
Which means a developer is still needed.
The takeaway
While I’m definitely not a fan of placing blame, I do acknowledge the importance of accountability. Without it, chaos would reign.
So another reason why strong developers are needed in the age of AI is to be accountable for outcomes.