> akin to gatekeeping how someone should breathe air.

Yes, and professions that do that - that vocally insist there is an essential human element to the craft - will likely fare better than the ones that say "whatever, code is code" or "whatever, math is math".

This is smart. We might not like it, but I don't know what's the end game for SWEs with their utilitarian attitudes to AI. We're digging our own grave. Meanwhile, professions such as writers or musicians are positioning themselves better by shunning "artists" that simply pull the lever. If you post gen AI poems or gen AI drawings on any artist forum, you're going to be eaten alive.