Will AI change how Computer Science is taught? Perplexity CEO thinks so

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has agreed with a viral social post stating that with AI models automating much of software engineering jobs, computer science is gradually returnings to the domains of physics, mathematics and electrical engineering.

“The field’s center of gravity is shifting away from manual code writing and toward deeper theoretical thinking, mathematical insight, and systems-level reasoning.” Wrote a user with the handle @TheVixhal on X

In response, Srinivas wrote, “Well said”. While the response is succint, it shows that Srinivas does agree with the larger point that AI is leading to a fundamental change in the nature of software engineering.

Will AI take away jobs? What do industry leaders say?

Srinivas is also not the first CEO point out the way AI is taking grunt work out of software engineering and fundamentally changing the field.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has earlier warned that AI could be 6-12 months away from doing most sofware engineering jobs.

“I think… I don’t know… we might be six to twelve months away from when the model is doing most, maybe all of what SWEs (software engineers) do end to end." Amodei said in a podcast earlier in the year

Meanwhile, Replit CEO Amjad Masad has also earlier warned that traditional software engineering is approaching its end. In an interaction last month during the AI Impact Summit, Masad even went on to say that “software engineering, as a role, sort of disappears. What [you’ll] have is generalist product people, problem solvers, or systems people.”

‘You are going to lose your job to someone who uses AI’: Jensen Huang

Not all tech leaders believe AI will replace the existing jobs. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has famously called AI a transformative force that will reshape jobs rather than replace them.

“Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable… You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.” Huang had said last year

This year, Huang even went on to say that manual jobs will be safer from AI.

"It's wonderful that the jobs are related to tradecraft and we're going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steelworkers," Huang said

"So we're talking about six-figure salaries for people who are building chip factories or computer factories or AI factories, and we have a great shortage in that," he added