AI’s rapid rise could replace programmers by next year

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has stirred global debate with a bold prediction: within a year, AI will replace the vast majority of human programmers. Speaking on the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, Schmidt highlighted an imminent shift in software development, calling it the dawn of a seismic technological transformation. He further claimed that AI systems will soon match graduate-level mathematicians, signaling a future where machines take over roles once reserved for the most skilled human minds.

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Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has made a startling forecast that is sending shockwaves through the tech world. Speaking recently on the exponential rise of artificial intelligence, Schmidt boldly claimed that within a year, the vast majority of human programmers will be replaced by AI systems. His remarks signal not just an evolution in software development but the beginning of a profound technological upheaval that could reshape society as we know it.

“We believe as an industry that in the next one year the vast majority of programmers will be replaced by AI programmers,” Schmidt declared. “We also believe that within one year you will have (AI) graduate-level mathematicians that are at the top of graduate math programs.”

Schmidt’s vision centers on the concept of recursive self-improvement, where AI systems begin writing better versions of themselves. He pointed to ongoing developments at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, noting that currently, around 10 to 20 percent of code in their research programs is already generated by AI. This trend, he argued, is only the beginning of a self-perpetuating cycle of improvement that will drastically outpace human capabilities.

“What happens in two years?” he asked. “Well, programming plus math are the foundation of our entire digital world. If AI can outperform humans in both, what’s left?” Schmidt suggested that the path from AI-assisted coding to artificial general intelligence (AGI) — AI systems that can match human intelligence across disciplines — is now inevitable. According to him, within three to five years, we may see machines that rival the smartest human mathematicians, scientists, and creatives.

But Schmidt didn’t stop there. He ventured further into the realm of artificial superintelligence (ASI), painting a future where machines no longer rely on human instruction. “These computers are learning to plan. They don’t have to listen to us anymore. That’s superintelligence — smarter than all of us combined. This could occur within six years, just based on scale,” he said.

The implications are staggering. If every person were to carry the cognitive power of the world’s smartest minds in their pocket, our approach to problems, creativity, and governance could be upended. Schmidt warned that society is vastly unprepared for such a future. “There’s no language for what happens with the arrival of this. That’s why it’s underhyped,” he said. “People do not understand what happens when you have intelligence at this level which is largely free.”

Schmidt is not alone in his outlook. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI will write 90% of code in just six months. Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott estimates that AI will handle 95% of programming within five years.

However, Schmidt has gone a step further, extrapolating these trends to envision a world where AI continues improving itself, quickly surpassing human intelligence in all areas. If intelligence is humanity’s greatest asset, then creating a digital species vastly more intelligent than ourselves may pose existential questions. As Schmidt warned, the foundation of this transformation is already being laid — and it may soon be out of our hands.