Why Chat GPT will NOT Replace Programmers

Advances in artificial intelligence have sparked debates in the software industry over whether AI will replace programmers. ChatGPT is the most well-known example of artificial intelligence advancement. ChatGPT is a language model that can generate human-like responses to any topic and participate in human-like talks. The dread of being replaced by computers has reached the industry that developed these large-language software engineering models.

Coming back to the question of whether ChatGPT or any other language model, such as Bard, can replace software developers, the short answer is no, at least not yet. The explanation for that answer is a little nuanced, and we’ll go over why ChatGPT will not replace programmers.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a unique approach to creating a link between humans and bots that is so smooth that it nearly feels like a normal conversation. Unlike traditional approaches, this technology has been coupled with AI algorithms to provide consumers with solutions similar to a standard messaging app. ChatGPT was founded by OpenAI (an autonomous body) to eliminate the problem of traditional chatbot approaches that were used across platforms (such as banking, e-commerce, and so on) and working like a human’s natural touch. ChatGPT stands for Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer.

ChatGPT can help in your daily tasks by assisting with many topics by acting as a chatbot, virtual assistant, content generation, or language understanding task. Although ChatGPT is a powerful large language model that has been trained on a huge set of data, but still, it can still produce inaccurate results or the context of the answer generated may be incorrect. This can happen due to the bias in the training data; therefore, it is recommended to use ChatGPt with caution and critical judgment.

Now we have an understanding of what ChatGPT is, and how it has changed our world, let us see why it cannot replace programmers :

1. Creativity and Problem Solving

Programmers have to have good problem-solving skills and creativity. This is because their daily tasks include finding creative solutions to new programming challenges. They do so by using their problem-solving skills to find bugs in the existing software, debug it, and optimize already existing code, tasks that are far beyond the reach of a language model such as ChatGPT. ChatGPT is good at generating human-like responses to the prompts, but it does not have problem-solving skills like a programmer; it lacks the intuition and creativity that programmers bring to the software development process.

2. Domain-Specific Knowledge

ChatGPT has limited knowledge of a specific topic based on the data it has been trained on. It cannot adapt to the new changes in a language or framework unless the model has been trained again to take account of the new changes. Programmers are habituated to reading official documentation and can easily adapt to the new changes in the framework or languages. This makes it easy for them to write code with new architecture, algorithms, and best coding practices. Moreover, programmers have profound knowledge in their specific domain, and when faced with a challenge, they can delve deeper to find the solution. ChatGPT depends on the pre-trained data and cannot answer relevant questions regarding new changes.

3. Communication and Collaboration

Large codebase projects are executed through collaboration among programmers. The key to collaboration is communication among programmers, where they exchange ideas, brainstorm to find creative solutions to coding challenges, share insights, and collaborate to find optimized solutions. ChatGPT, though proficient in generating textual human-like responses, cannot communicate as humans do to exchange ideas, participate in collective problem solving, or work in a team, all of which are essential aspects of developing successful projects by programmers.

4. Lack of Critical Thinking

Although ChatGPT shows excellent language-generating capabilities, it lacks the critical thinking of humans. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, evaluate, and then synthesize a solution for a particular situation. ChatGPT cannot do critical thinking as it can only generate answers within the limits of its trained data. It merely does pattern matching of the asked question keywords with the trained data, but it doesn’t comprehend the answer it is generating. Its limitations become apparent when it is faced with complex, ambiguous situations requiring deep reasoning or when ethical questions in a specific domain are asked. The answers generated may look authentic, but sometimes they are just pattern-matching results, hence contextually relevant. Programmers are required to understand the flaws in the code, optimize it, and address complex programs with critical thinking. ChatGPT can help in certain aspects of programming, such as formatting the code, etc., but so far, human judgment is required in the code written.

5. Debugging and Troubleshooting

Programmers bring their unique debugging and troubleshooting skills into the software development field. Debugging is the process of finding a bug in the codebase by tracing back to the root cause of the problem and rectifying it. Similarly, troubleshooting is getting rid of an issue arising in the system first by finding it, getting to know its cause, and then receiving it. ChatGPT can only give general advice to programmers; however, it cannot debug a large codebase like a programmer. Therefore, it is not able to substitute programmers in the software development process. Programmers have years of experience working hand in hand with the code; hence, they are more efficient than AI in debugging and troubleshooting. The future lies in using AI like ChatGPT for daily tasks, which will lead to a combination of human expertise and AI efficiency.

6. Adapting to Evolving Technologies

Every day, some update to existing software is done or a new framework is launched. This is due to the dynamic nature of the tech sector. The programmers are trained to shift to new technologies as part of their normal work demands. They understand the new aspects of the update or framework by reading official documentation and building upon their foundational knowledge of computer science. They also play a role in driving innovation as they embrace new technologies and contribute to the development of tools and technology. Programmers are also responsible for migrating the legacy codebases to the new, adopted tech stack for a modern approach to writing code matching current industry standards. ChatGPT has a limitation in adapting to evolving technologies as the model has to be retrained again with the new data about the new technology to keep track of the new changes. This process requires huge monetary resources and time. As a result, ChatGPT-like language models are not able to generate responses to queries related to a new technology.

Conclusion

So reading the blog, you must have got the point by now that ChatGPT will not replace programmers now or soon. The reason for programmers being irreplaceable by ChatGPT is the limitations of language models like ChatGPT. ChatGPT unlike programmers doesn’t have deep knowledge of a subject, cannot reason like a human, cannot think critically, and many more limitations, whereas programmers have creativity and problem-solving skills, debugging and troubleshooting skills,domain-specific knowledge, etc.

We must recognize that the future of software engineering will not be ChatGPT replacing programmers, but rather cooperation between programmers and AI. ChatGPT can be used by programmers for monotonous chores such as unit testing and code creation, allowing them to focus on critical thinking, brainstorming, and invention. The partnership between AI and humans will increase the efficiency of software engineering. So let us not dread ChatGPT taking over, but prepare ourselves for incorporating ChatGPT into our everyday duties to make our lives easier and keep us up to date on the new AI trends in the industry.

Want to start using ChatGPT Check Out Getting Started With ChatGPT: A Complete Guide With Examples

FAQs

Who built ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model that was introduced by OpenAI in November 2022 and focuses on automating chatbot technology. It is also regarded as an advanced form of typical support chat systems. The company’s current CEO is Sam Altman.

Can ChatGPT build a complete software by itself?

No, ChatGPT cannot build complete software by itself. It can write pieces of code and help with some tasks, but it doesn’t have the critical thinking,problem-solving skills, or domain knowledge to build software from scratch.

Will ChatGPT take away my programming job?

No, ChatGPT will not take away your job in the foreseeable future. ChatGPT can just give generic advice and cannot find the root cause of a bug; however, programmers, through their problem-solving skills and critical thinking, are more effective than ChatGPT in dealing with programming challenges.

Can I use ChatGPT to debug my code?

ChatGPT has limited debugging capabilities; it can help by identifying repeating patterns or potential issues, but it lacks a deep understanding of the codebase. Hence, programmers have to depend on their problem-solving and debugging skills.