Can AI Replace Software Engineers?

In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool that's transforming numerous industries. As the founder of Natasun, a web development company specializing in Next.js websites, I've witnessed firsthand the impact of AI on our field. Today, I want to address a question that many clients and industry observers are asking: Can AI replace web programmers and software engineers?

The Current State of AI in Web Development

AI tools have undoubtedly made impressive strides in recent years. They can generate code snippets, create basic UI components, and even help debug simple issues. Tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT can write functional React components or suggest solutions to common programming problems. This has led some to wonder if human developers might soon become obsolete.

However, the reality is far more nuanced. While AI excels in certain aspects of web development, it falls significantly short in others.

What AI Can Do Well

Let's acknowledge where AI truly shines in the development process:

1. Frontend UI Implementation

AI can generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for basic UI components based on descriptions or mockups. It can implement responsive designs and even suggest animations or transitions.

2. Debugging and Error Resolution

AI tools are excellent at identifying common errors in code and suggesting fixes. They can recognize patterns in error messages and provide potential solutions, saving developers valuable time.

3. Documentation Assistance

When developers encounter unfamiliar libraries or frameworks, AI can help parse documentation and provide relevant examples. This accelerates the learning curve for new technologies.

4. Content Generation and Translation

For internationalization (i18n) projects, AI excels at translating content across multiple languages while maintaining context. At Natasun, we've successfully used AI to help with website translations, significantly reducing the time required for this process.
These are the examples: duomopizzeria.fr and helgehaukeland.com

5. TypeScript Type Assistance

AI can help resolve complex TypeScript type errors and suggest appropriate type definitions, which can be particularly helpful in large codebases.

The Critical Limitations of AI

Despite these capabilities, AI faces fundamental limitations that prevent it from replacing human developers:

1. System Architecture and Strategic Planning

AI cannot design comprehensive system architectures that account for scalability, performance, security, and business requirements. At Natasun, our engineers spend significant time planning database structures, API designs, and system integrations that align with specific business goals. This requires deep understanding of both technical possibilities and business contexts.

2. Backend Integration Complexity

For example, in our case, connecting a Next.js frontend to various backend services, CDNs, payment processors, or third-party APIs requires nuanced understanding of different systems. Each integration has unique authentication requirements, rate limits, and edge cases that AI simply cannot anticipate.

// Example of complex backend integration that AI would struggle with
export async function getServerSideProps(context) {
  // Authentication with multiple services
  const [authToken1, authToken2] = await Promise.all([
    getServiceOneAuth(process.env.SERVICE_ONE_KEY, context.req.cookies),
    getServiceTwoAuth({
      clientId: process.env.CLIENT_ID,
      region: determineRegionFromRequest(context.req),
      userType: getUserTypeFromSession(context)
    })
  ]);
// Complex conditional data fetching based on business rules
let data;
if (isEnterpriseTier(context) && featureFlagEnabled('new_data_source')) {
data = await fetchFromNewDataSource(authToken1);
data = transformDataForEnterprise(data);
} else {
data = await fetchFromLegacySource(authToken2);
if (shouldEnrichData(context, data)) {
data = await enrichWithAdditionalData(data, context);
}
}
return { props: { data } };
}

3. Adapting to Changing Requirements

Real-world projects rarely follow a straight line from conception to completion. Requirements evolve, priorities shift, and unexpected challenges emerge. Human developers can pivot quickly, understanding the implications of changes across the entire system. AI lacks this adaptability and contextual awareness.

4. Creative Problem-Solving

When faced with unique challenges that don't have established solutions, human developers innovate. They draw on diverse experiences, combine techniques in novel ways, and think outside conventional patterns. AI is fundamentally limited to patterns in its training data.

5. Understanding Unstated Requirements

Clients often can't articulate exactly what they want until they see what they don't want. Human developers can read between the lines, anticipate unstated needs, and propose solutions that clients hadn't considered. For example, knowing where to place a logo watermark on images across different contexts requires understanding brand guidelines and aesthetic principles that AI cannot grasp.

6. Security Considerations

Web applications face constantly evolving security threats. Human developers bring a security mindset that anticipates potential vulnerabilities and implements appropriate protections. AI might generate code with security flaws that aren't apparent until exploited.

The Collaboration Model: Humans + AI

At Natasun, we've found that the most effective approach is not humans versus AI, but humans working with AI. We leverage AI tools where they excel while relying on our team's expertise for the critical thinking, creativity, and strategic planning that AI cannot provide.

For example, when building a complex e-commerce platform:

• Human developers design the overall architecture, plan the database schema, and determine the authentication strategy

• AI assists with generating repetitive components, suggesting optimizations, and helping with translations

• Human developers integrate payment processors, ensure PCI compliance, and implement custom business logic

• AI helps debug issues and generate test cases

This collaborative approach delivers the best of both worlds: the efficiency and assistance of AI with the creativity and strategic thinking of human developers.

Why You Still Need Human Developers

If you're considering a web development project, here's why human developers remain essential:

1. Strategic alignment with business goals: Human developers ensure your website or application serves your specific business objectives.

2. Adaptability to changing requirements: As your project evolves, human developers can pivot quickly without requiring extensive re-explanation.

3. Holistic problem-solving: Experienced developers consider all aspects of your project, from user experience to performance to security.

4. Custom solutions: Your business is unique, and your web presence should reflect that uniqueness with custom solutions that AI alone cannot provide.

5. Long-term maintenance: Websites and applications require ongoing updates and improvements. Human developers build with maintainability in mind and can efficiently implement changes as needed.

While AI has become an invaluable tool in web development, it cannot replace the creativity, strategic thinking, and adaptability of human developers. The most successful projects leverage both: AI for efficiency and assistance, and human developers for innovation and strategic direction.

At Natasun, we embrace AI as a powerful tool in our development process while recognizing its limitations. Our team of experienced developers combines cutting-edge AI assistance with human expertise to deliver websites and applications that truly meet our clients' needs.

If you're planning a web development project, remember that AI is just one tool in a comprehensive development process. The human element, understanding your business, anticipating your needs, and crafting custom solutions, remains irreplaceable.

This is while, we, the world of programmers, would like to see AI is developing to make everything easy for us, unfortunately it's not in that state "yet".

Thanks for reading this article.