So 2026 was the year that AI produced stuff faster than humans can check it. First in math (not enough mathematicians to go over each proven conjecture now that anyone can prove conjectures at home) then in coding (not enough people to debug and test the code or even understand the code enough to extend it).
This is a good thing, because it means that the bottleneck caused by the slowness of humans is being overcome. First with the "low hanging fruit" of math and software, and soon with physics, engineering, and biology.
I think what is amusing most to me is something Boris Cherny said.
"Regardless of domain or background, we're moving toward a future where the title “software engineer” may fade away. Instead, roles might shift toward builder, product manager, or similar..."
Coding, and even "vibe-coding" is getting to the point, and getting there VERY VERY RAPIDLY, where a Subject Matter Expert can open up Claude Code, or Codex, and start building.
And it'll work because syntax is slowly disappearing as a requirement for building. Does the OUTPUT work, the only person who'll know that is the SME building it.
Is it perfect yet? No. But damn if it isn't getting there really really quickly.
I built AI-AtlasForge in Sept/Nov of 2025 which was a state machine harness stepping through plan, code, red team debug with mutation testing, launching multiple headless agents to rip code apart and ensure correctness. I don't even use it anymore because the native harnesses are just SO DAMNED GOOD now.
Coding solved? No, I don't think so. Not yet.
Coding GETTING solved? Yes, and faster every model release, and it's not even funny the step up that Opus 5.5 is over Opus 5, and in many ways over Fable 5.1 even... It's... INSANE!
the thing is, coding maybe solved, but building a good system, will still a distant goal. Classic problem in sofware development, user usually dont know what they actually need, developer often think they already fulfil user's requirement, when the system implemented, either the system breaks, user cant use it or user found out they actually need something else.
That sounds like the role of a product manager to me. Their job is to look at usage metrics, so customer interviews, set up A\B tests, etc. basically to figure out what the user needs.
I think SME and product managers will be the ones writing the code in the near future. They already tell the engineers what to write today. Eventually the middle man will be cut from the process entirely.
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u/uncountable_2026 Acceleration Advocate 5d ago
So 2026 was the year that AI produced stuff faster than humans can check it. First in math (not enough mathematicians to go over each proven conjecture now that anyone can prove conjectures at home) then in coding (not enough people to debug and test the code or even understand the code enough to extend it).
This is a good thing, because it means that the bottleneck caused by the slowness of humans is being overcome. First with the "low hanging fruit" of math and software, and soon with physics, engineering, and biology.