Stephen Downes

"It is not the end of programming," writes Tim O'Reilly. "It is the end of programming as we know it today." It's not the first time. When I worked with Texas Instruments in 1980 we had desk-sized computers, called TIMAP, that were programmed by setting switches on the front console. Machine language. O'Reilly traces the increasing abstraction of programming languages, from machine-level instructions to BASIC to cloud computing and internet operating systems. Will it be different with AI? he asks. No. "AI will not replace programmers, but it will transform their jobs. Eventually much of what programmers do today may be as obsolete." As Chip Huyan says, "I don't think AI introduces a new kind of thinking. It reveals what actually requires thinking." Image: Computing History.