Replit CEO Amjad Masad.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for for Village Global
Replit CEO Amjad Masad says AI is making software engineering at his company more cerebral and fun.That's a surprising take, given the widespread concern about the so-called "SaaSpocalypse" and fears that AI is replacing coding jobs at software companies.Speaking on tech journalist Casey Newton's podcast, Masad said coding agents have changed the day-to-day environment at his company, freeing up engineers for more imaginative tasks."You are trying a lot of things, you are ideating very quickly," Masad said. "Two years ago, everyone is hands on keyboard, you hear clicking all the time.""Now, actually, it's a lot more vibrant environment," he added.Others, too, have scoffed at the idea that AI could spell the end of the software industry. Jared Spataro, a Microsoft executive overseeing marketing for AI-powered workplace tools, earlier told Business Insider that he thinks that "the rumors of the demise of enterprise software are greatly exaggerated."Investors, meanwhile, have not been so buoyant. The notion that AI could let companies build their own software — instead of contracting the work out to dedicated software builders, like Microsoft — rattled the markets earlier this year.
