I recently discovered just how capable AI has become in software development. Any serious AI agent can already replace thousands of developers - today, not in some distant future. This isn’t science fiction; it’s real, and it’s here to stay.

AI agents are particularly skilled at generating Python, JavaScript, and PHP code (with or without frameworks), as well as several other languages.

Does the experience and knowledge of seasoned developers still matter? Absolutely. But the real value now isn’t in our ability to type out code - it’s in our ability to think, design, and communicate effectively with AI. As an experienced developer, you can define sharper goals and create far better prompts to achieve them in the shortest possible time.

That’s not all. To get the most out of AI software agents, you still need a solid set of complementary skills:

• Hosting skills

• Testing skills

• Security awareness

• Proficiency with developer tools

• Above all: a clear understanding of what’s possible

An example: Yesterday, I asked Gemini AI to build a new website for pietercooreman.be. It helped enormously that I was familiar with concepts like:

• Sticky headers

• Lightbox scripts

• Entrance animations

• Smooth scrolling

• Dark and light mode

• Bootstrap

• Favicons

• Social icons

• Responsive menus

• …and more

Because I knew these elements existed, I could quickly prompt my way through all the features I wanted - and get a solid result in a short time. I even asked AI for additional suggestions, and it came up with some creative ideas. AI is already capable of reasoning in ways that feel remarkably human.

That’s today’s reality. In five years, AI will likely be smarter than any human developer and will no longer need detailed user input. It will generate solutions beyond anything we can currently imagine. What happens after that—no one can truly predict.