Don't fall for "AI of the Gaps" fallacy

How many times have you heard: don't learn "X" - AI will do this soon anyway. I think this is a wrong and dangerous mindset from influencers.

Simply put, God of the Gaps is an argument from theologists that states, if science cant explain this yet, so it must be god’s work. There is an analogous argument in the field of AI today. AI has become the goto phrase for influencers who use it as a catch-all prediction for replacing human skills, knowledge, and labor without considering the nuances and complexities. They do this without much thought or consideration to what the technology can do or where it is headed.

The argument goes something like this “Don't bother learning skill ‘X’, AI will be doing it soon”. I have heard this argument several times over the last year, however in recent days a lot more people are echoing this sentiment and is being amplified by influencers with huge following. This is adding to the confusion and desperation of young people who are already puzzled at various career paths to choose.

AI of the Gaps in Coding

The best, most popular, and arguably the most dangerous example of this argument is around coding.

Question: Should young people learn to code anymore?

AI of the Gaps answer: No, because AI will handle all coding tasks in the future.

You must have heard CEOs of large tech companies saying that learning to code is no longer a vital skill for young people. Influencers have been taking the spicy bits of this message and amplifying it to mean coding is no longer a useful skill to study.

Example from today: Below is CEO of replit (a low-code-no-code platform that is incentivized to promote no-code)

And here comes the amplifying influencers

Why this thinking is irresponsible and short sighted

They fail to understand that there is a lot more to learning to program a computer than learning the syntax of a language. You learn problem solving, break complex problems into components that can be tackled. You learn about fundamental data structures and how to use them with algorithms to solve problems step by step.

You have seen vibe coding getting all the hype, but have you seen vibe debugging ? Vibe Coders who miss the fundamentals will struggle with debugging and will have no idea how to solve issues that arise from the steps they engaged in.

You learn to deal with constrains like memory, disk space, latency. You learn to think in terms of abstractions, to simplify complex systems. If you enjoy the challenge, you may also develop creative problem solving ability and systems thinking.

I am a bullish on the exponential gains and progress AI is poised to make and it is even possible that we may not need human readable source code at one point. However even when AI is writing all the code, we need humans with real, deep knowledge who can specify the requirements clearly, evaluate the solutions that AI is generating and understand why AI has done what it has done. There will be complex issues that AI cannot tackle on its own. There will be architectural decisions that these tools are not able to make. All of this requires an even deeper understanding of programming and how computers work because these systems have become more complex with the introduction of AI.

The AI of the gaps argument in coding is extremely dangerous because it discourages the most vital skill development that is needed alongside AI’s progress. It completely misses the point of learning programming and reduces it to merely writing code.

Other popular variants of this argument include:

• AI will translate between languages, so there is no need to learn a foreign language.

• AI will diagnose patients, so doctors / healthcare professionals will not need their current skillsets

• AI can do design and creative writing, so learning these skills are useless

Rather than being stuck in the "AI of the Gaps" fallacy, look at the opportunity. AI is a universal amplifier and fundamental accelerator that will empower every domain. Everyone will benefit from it with the right mindset and approach. Human judgement, critical thinking, and creativity has to work alongside AI for society to make progress.