Santa Clara, California: Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, has stirred conversations in the tech industry by suggesting that AI advancements will render traditional coding skills less vital. Huang emphasized the changing landscape of IT jobs, asserting that the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence, including tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, has transformed everyone into a programmer.
In a video circulating on social media, Huang challenged the conventional wisdom that learning coding is essential, especially for children. He highlighted the role of AI technologies in making programming accessible to a broader audience. “Over the last 10-15 years, almost everybody who sits on a stage like this would tell you that it is vital that your children learn computer science, everybody should learn how to program. In fact, it is almost exactly the opposite,” he remarked.
Huang proposed a paradigm shift where technology enables computers to comprehend human instructions, reducing the emphasis on individuals learning traditional programming languages like C++ and Java. “It is our job to create computing technology such that nobody has to program, and that the programming language is human. Everybody in the world is now a programmer. This is the miracle of AI,” he explained.
The Nvidia CEO advocated for a focus on ‘upskilling’ – enhancing individual skills – rather than urging children to learn specific coding languages. “You now have a computer that will do what you tell it to do. It is vital that we upskill everyone, and the upskilling process will be delightful and surprising,” Huang added.
His perspective received support from John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, who shared similar sentiments on X (formerly Twitter). Carmack emphasized that the source of value was not solely in coding but in problem-solving skills. He predicted that managing AI would become more enjoyable, even if AI systems eventually surpassed human programmers.
Jensen Huang’s viewpoint raises questions about the evolving nature of work in the technology sector and the skills required in an era dominated by Artificial Intelligence. As AI continues to advance, the debate over the relevance of traditional coding skills is likely to intensify, reshaping the educational and professional landscape.