If an AI can write a Python function in two seconds, it is fair to ask whether learning to code still matters. The honest answer is yes, but what you learn shifts. Developers now use AI tools constantly, yet surveys consistently show they trust the output far less than they use it. That gap is exactly where your skill lives.
What AI changes, and what it does not
AI is genuinely good at producing a first draft: boilerplate, a function from a clear description, a regex you half-remember. What it is not reliable at is being correct in your specific context. It will confidently return code that runs but does the wrong thing, mishandles an edge case, or quietly assumes something untrue about your data.
So the job changes from "type the code" to "decide what to ask for, then judge what comes back." Both halves require you to actually understand programming.
What you still need to learn
