Comment by jameslk

> I didn't put any full-time SWEs out of work, but I did take one job away from a Fiverr freelancer.

I think this is the nuance most miss when they think about how AI models will displace work.

Most seem to think “if it can’t fully replace a SWE then it’s not going to happen”

When in reality, it starts by lowering the threshold for someone who’s technical but not a SWE, to jump in and do the work themselves. Or it makes the job of an existing engineer more efficient. Each hour less work needed spread across many tasks that would have otherwise gone to an engineer eventually sum up to a full time worth of an engineer. If it’s a Fiverr dev you eliminated the work of, that means the Fiverr dev will eventually go after the work that’s remaining, putting supply pressure on other devs

It’s the same mistake many had about self driving cars not happening because they couldn’t handle every road. No, they just need to start with 1 road, master that, and then keep expanding to more roads. Until they can do all of SF, and then more and more cities