Source: Every
As AI coding agents handle the initial generation task, human engineers are shifting from writers to editors—a move that mirrors how photography changed from chemical processing to post-production curation. This doesn't eliminate engineering expertise; it relocates it to judgment calls about what the agent built, which requires deeper understanding of intent and quality than routine coding once demanded. The economic question is whether "agent generation + human polish" scales to lower-cost labor, or if it simply creates a different (possibly higher-skilled, higher-paid) job category.