--- title: Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t description: Drawing on economic data, surveys, and software engineering research, the authors argue that AI-driven mass layoffs in software engineering are largely a myth... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/mo5iwarjg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t | daily.dev og:description: Drawing on economic data, surveys, and software engineering research, the authors argue that AI-driven mass layoffs in software engineering are largely a myth... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/mo5iwarjg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/MO5iWarJg.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t **[Developer Nest](https://daily.dev/sources/devnest)** · [@jaydeepgadhiya](https://daily.dev/jaydeepgadhiya) · 44 upvotes · 10 comments ## Summary Drawing on economic data, surveys, and software engineering research, the authors argue that AI-driven mass layoffs in software engineering are largely a myth driven by 'AI washing.' Most high-profile layoffs attributed to AI were actually caused by financial pressures or investor demands. The core argument is the 'decide-execute-deliver sandwich': AI compresses the execution layer (writing code), but the decision-making and delivery/accountability layers resist automation for structural reasons, not just capability limitations. Evidence shows AI caused an 8x increase in lines of code but only 30% more releases. The distinction between 'vibe coding' (unsupervised, low-accountability) and 'agentic engineering' (human-supervised, accountable) is critical — companies cannot ship production software by replacing engineers with vibe coders. The authors are cautiously optimistic that demand for software engineers will remain strong or even grow, as cheaper software creation drives more software consumption (price elasticity), though individual career trajectories may still be rocky. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@agustinbarrientos** · 2 upvotes > I think release counts look a lot less impressive once you put the rollback rate beside them **@ragu** · 1 upvotes >  **@springtofigh** · 1 upvotes > It was a good review👌 **@championempire** · 1 upvotes >  **@dazzlerkumar** · 1 upvotes > damn damn what a presentation. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#automation](https://daily.dev/tags/automation), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/mo5iwarjg) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/mo5iwarjg","headline":"Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t","text":"Shared: Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mo5iwarjg","datePublished":"2026-09-09T04:34:26.500Z","dateModified":"2026-09-09T04:34:26.502Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"jaydeep Gadhiya","url":"https://daily.dev/jaydeepgadhiya","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--KiGB59cx--/f_auto/v1789371046/avatars/avatar_aZeEra5H4meZjUXRmqGOl?_a=BAMAMicg0","description":"Laravel Developer | PHP Engineer | Open Source Contributor","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":160}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--HRgLpUt6--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2003","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":44},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/hffRDUuQp"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I think release counts look a lot less impressive once you put the rollback rate beside them","datePublished":"2026-09-13T03:48:48.646Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/MO5iWarJg#c-8GAk7GwVX","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Agustin Barrientos","url":"https://daily.dev/agustinbarrientos","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5ayxQnqn--/f_auto/v1788281802/avatars/avatar_wQYYVe5Tbj0NJ7C7qPoa8?_a=BAMAMicg0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"","datePublished":"2026-09-13T00:29:09.392Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/MO5iWarJg#c-POv9DB93o","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ragunathan Maniraj","url":"https://daily.dev/ragu","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/13572570?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"It was a good review👌","datePublished":"2026-09-13T08:56:52.112Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/MO5iWarJg#c-Ohh6wzmh4","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Spring Tofigh","url":"https://daily.dev/springtofigh","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/90114320?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"","datePublished":"2026-09-09T06:58:19.910Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/MO5iWarJg#c-vFE6P47B9","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Champion empire","url":"https://daily.dev/championempire","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocINRzYOCX2A4bspdZ3XEfzr89sZai-1MCcJZMgBzTBRPRIUGbf8=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"damn damn what a presentation.","datePublished":"2026-09-14T08:40:03.390Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/MO5iWarJg#c-GG8OuLUff","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Deepak Kumar","url":"https://daily.dev/dazzlerkumar","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJ8Elrdfwg3LUtP3pz12OG6mAeKZip0y4sJyJbCyh52rWlW=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/devnest","name":"Developer Nest"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Developer Nest","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/devnest"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why AI hasn’t replaced software engineers, and won’t"}]} ```