That's because they're thinking that they're still going to get paid $200k/y for typing in "Duh, Claude, make me an app, here the specs from the client, doh!"
They aren't seeing that there is very little value to add when all they are, is an interface to a magic software-making machine.
Either way, I empathize with your anxiety but posit that its primarily driven by techs original sin: the algorithmic feed and the resultant 24hour news cycle. I think the truth will be a lot more boring (mass upskilling and reskilling) but those narratives aren’t easily sold on the feeds.
AI is normal technology but it’s probably the largest upgrade to productivity and massively deflationary especially as it hits atoms and not just bits. That is actually extremely exciting.
If software genuinely becomes a solved problem, everyone is going to working in AI labs (or its verticals).
If AI is also going to maintain itself, then there is no need for AI labs either, at which point we've reached singularity and no one is safe.
replacement would not happen overnight but they would decrease the amount of jobs required
back then we need a team of 4 - 10 engineer for an project/app, now maybe we need 2-3 max
I think the outcomes are very hard to predict, it depends a lot on both economical factors, technological factors (how much will LLMs still improve beyond benchmaxxing), societal factors, etc.
It's like the early internet where there was the whole gamut of opinions between 'its a nothingburger' to 'it's the democratic town square of the world'. In the end, it was neither.
Whoever gets it right will be called a visionary, but realistically nobody had a clue.
Counterpoint: reducing most of these metastatic organizations to 2-pizza level teams with AI would be positive across the board.
Countercounterpoint: But since the overlords of these fiefdoms are not stupid, just malevolent, they'll use AI to tighten their grip and terrorize anyone who dare oppose them. Basically, organizational Ponzi.
I don't think EMs are useless, I just think that you are naive if you think that LLMs can't do the EM work as well.