WORLD · VERIFIED DEVELOPMENT
Eric Schmidt: Top Engineers Shift from Coding to Specifying as AI Takes Over Overnight
WHY IT MATTERS
The trend signals a fundamental change in software development, raising questions about the future roles of engineers and the speed of AI-driven innovation.
What happened
At Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained that the most skilled programmers are no longer writing code themselves.
Instead, they draft specifications and evaluation criteria, then let AI run the work overnight. By morning, the AI delivers completed projects.
Schmidt argued that this shift will make elite engineers even more valuable, while AI will automate core business functions such as billing and logistics. He also warned that artificial general intelligence could emerge as early as 2029.
PRIMARY SOURCES
What took 10 Google engineers six months now happens overnight, says Eric Schmidt
The Times of India · TOI TECH DESK · Discovery only; publisher copyright terms apply
CORRECTIONS & UPDATES
- Revision 1 · Initial ingestion · Oct 3, 2026, 5:45 PM
- Revision 2 · Source update detected · Oct 3, 2026, 5:45 PM