AI Won't Replace Engineers: The Work Beyond Code

Despite rapid AI adoption in software engineering—the sector where AI is most advanced and widely deployed—evidence contradicts predictions of imminent mass layoffs. AI excels at automating the 'execute' phase of work but cannot replicate the critical 'decide' and 'deliver' layers that require human judgment. Recent cases like Block's layoffs, marketed as AI-driven but actually rooted in financial pressure, reveal how executives confuse AI capability improvements with genuine productivity gains.