Microsoft’s annual developer conference, Build, drew thousands of coders and engineers to Seattle this week, where the company unveiled a range of new products centered around AI-assisted coding and automation agents. However, beneath the excitement, a pressing question lingered in the air: will these very tools eventually replace the developers they’re designed to aid?
The issue was notably absent from Microsoft executives’ keynotes, but attendees were abuzz with concerns about the future of their profession. “Is there going to be a Build 2035, or will there not be any more developers?” a software engineering vice president attending the conference joked to Semafor, suggesting that future conferences might be attended solely by AI agents. “It feels like we are marching off a cliff,” they added.
Microsoft’s push into AI is driven by significant investment, including $80 billion spent on data centers this year alone. The company’s announcements at Build included a new GitHub Copilot coding agent, the ability for AI agents to delegate tasks to one another, and expanded support for Model Context Protocol. According to Microsoft, the goal is to liberate engineers from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on more creative work.
However, this technological advancement may come at a cost. Junior developers, who would have typically handled routine coding tasks, may find their roles diminished or eliminated. Amanda Silver, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s developer division, told Semafor that she anticipates a redistribution of talent in the coming years, potentially leading to rapid growth in the startup sector. “You’re going to need a smaller team to have as much impact,” she said, suggesting that independent ventures will be “seeded” and grow, albeit smaller than previous generations of startups.
While Microsoft is at the forefront of this technological shift, it’s not alone. Other major tech companies are also developing features that will automate software development work, making this a broader industry trend rather than a problem specific to Microsoft. The future of the software development workforce, therefore, hangs in the balance, as the industry hurtles towards an AI-driven future.
