I'm convinced NVIDIA's CEO was right about coding being dead in the water as a career option after watching OpenAI's GPT-4o coding demo

Kevin Okemwa
·2 min read
43
AI taking over coding jobs.
AI taking over coding jobs.

What you need to know

  • OpenAI just launched its new flagship GPT-4o model at the just-concluded Spring Update event.

  • The model can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time, making interactions with ChatGPT more intuitive.

  • Based on the demo shown during the event, the model is seemingly great at coding and detecting errors.

Besides privacy and security, job loss is a major concern for people with the prevalence of generative AI. With companies like Microsoft and OpenAI fully invested in the technology and making significant strides, it's unimaginable what AI will be able to do in just a few years.

Last year, Microsoft released its third annual Work Trend Index report which pointed out that 49% of the polled participants feared losing their jobs to AI. However, the vast majority of participants disclosed that they wanted to leverage the technology's capabilities to make work easier and save time.

This year's report focused on the State of AI at work, and interestingly, top company executives expressed their fears of there not being enough talent to fill open positions within their organizations. However, recruiters are prioritizing job applicants with an AI aptitude for vacant positions across cybersecurity, engineering, and creative design. Consequently, Microsoft reports there's been "a 142x increase in LinkedIn members adding AI skills like Copilot and ChatGPT to their profiles."

Upskilling in AI is a futureproof solution for job security

OpenAI just unveiled its new flagship GPT-4o model that can reason across audio, vision, and text in real-time, making interactions with ChatGPT more intuitive. And while it's still in the early release stages, the model is quite impressive going by the demos flooding the internet since its release. Definitely, faster and smarter than the "mildly embarrassing at best" GPT-4 model.

While watching OpenAI's Spring update event on Monday, one thing caught my attention — how insanely good GPT-4o is at coding. It's not only good but also fast and accurate based on short and precise prompts. Additionally, it's likely to get better in terms of performance via future updates coupled with new features.

In the past few months, we've seen AI-powered tools like Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator) and Midjourney getting freakishly good at generating sophisticated structural designs, potentially putting architects and interior designers out of their jobs. This isn't to say the tools are blemish-free — Copilot and ChatGPT seemingly struggle to create a simple white image.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has previously commented on AI taking jobs from humans. He further indicated pursuing a career in coding might not be worth the effort with the prevalence of AI. Instead, he recommended biology, education, manufacturing, or farming as plausible career options for the youth.