"We will never write code by hand again,” says former Meta engineer Aditya Agarwal as AI fuels market jitters

As the world of technology continues to evolve, global software stocks experienced a significant drop on February 3, driven by investors' concerns about the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in white-collar professions. Aditya Agarwal, a seasoned engineer and current general partner at South Park Commons, shared his thoughts on this transformative period through a post on X (formerly Twitter). Agarwal expressed a blend of excitement and apprehension after an extensive coding session with AI tool Claude. He remarked, "It’s a strange time. I am filled with wonder and a deep sadness. After spending hours coding with Claude, it became clear to me that we will never write code by hand again. It simply doesn’t make sense." Having previously held high-level engineering positions at Dropbox and Meta, Agarwal noted that skills he once considered invaluable now feel trivialized. He stated, "Something I excelled at is now free and widely available. While I find this progress exciting, it leaves me feeling disoriented." He reflected on how AI is capable of recreating the very products he helped develop during his career, saying, "The social networks I once worked on are now being generated by AI. From a distance, it’s nearly indistinguishable from human output online." Agarwal's poignant commentary coincides with market reactions to Anthropic's latest automation initiatives, which have introduced a suite of plug-ins aimed at streamlining various business functions, including legal, sales, and data analysis. These tools enable companies to integrate AI directly with their existing workflows, allowing for task management and document generation with little to no human intervention. The financial fallout was evident in India, where major tech stocks plummeted. By the end of trading on February 4, shares of Infosys fell by 7.19%, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd experienced declines of 6.95% and 4.22%, respectively. The broader market also suffered, with the Nasdaq Composite down 1.43% and the S&P 500 falling 0.84%. Anthropic's offerings allow for customization according to company needs, enabling staff to create and share internal tools without requiring extensive technical skills. This shift positions AI as a powerful ally in managing schedules, drafting documents, and facilitating various enterprise functions, further cementing its role in the future of work.