Andy Bell: You’ll miss publishers when they’re gone
My opinions on AI shift around almost daily, but a few fears of mine persist. No, it isn’t necessarily the existential one—the idea that I’ll soon be out of a job, replaced by an AI or by someone who will sling more prompts for less pay.
One of my primary concerns is deskilling. If I become so dependent on AI that my software development skills atrophy then I’m moving myself closer to being replaced. After all, if I’m not any better at web dev than a junior prompt slinger, what’s the incentive to hire/retain me?
(Note: my employer has not indicated that they were set on replacing people; I’m speaking of the industry as a whole).
It’s extremely slow going, but one thing I’m trying to do is actively beef up my skills. For example, I’m slowly working through Josh Comeau’s CSS for JavaScript Developers and I hope to soon start on his Whimsical Animations course.
We’re going to have to support people publishing high-quality learning content if we want to keep seeing it.