With the rise of artificial intelligence, there has been a growing belief in the tech industry that coding will soon become redundant, given that new AI models are getting better not just at writing code but also at implementing it. However, Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the godfathers of AI, says it might not be the right time to give up on computer science degrees just yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people think a CS degree is just programming or something,\u201d Hinton told Business Insider. \u201cObviously, just being a competent mid level programmer is not going to be a career for much longer, because AI can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinton predicted that a CS degree is valuable for more than just coding, and believes that a CS degree will be valuable for quite a long time.<\/p>\n
The Nobel Prize and Turing Award winner drew a parallel between learning coding and how humanities students learn Latin. He said, \u201cI think it\u2019s very useful to learn to code, and even if they end up not having AI do all the coding for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think learning to code is maybe a bit like learning Latin if you\u2019re in the humanities or something. You\u2019re never going to speak Latin, but it\u2019s still useful learning Latin,\u201d Hinton<\/a> added.<\/p>\n \u201cSome skills that are always going to be valuable, like knowing some maths, statistics and probability theory, and things like linear algebra, will always be valuable,\u201d he further noted.<\/p>\n What do other AI leaders think about a computer science degree?<\/p>\n OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor <\/a>also shared a similar view about computer science degrees in an episode of Lenny\u2019s podcast earlier this year.<\/p>\n Taylor said, \u201cI still think studying computer science is a different answer than learning to code, but I also think it\u2019s extremely valuable to study computer science. That\u2019s because computer science is more than coding.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also spoken about the importance of understanding the fundamentals of software building, even though AI is expected to do much of the work in the future.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cJust getting the real fundamentals of software still matters a lot to me if you\u2019re a software engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHaving the ability to think computationally is important,\u201d Nadella<\/a> added.<\/p>\n