Software as Craft: Finding Hope in the AI Revolution

(Edited with Claude)

It's impossible to escape the doom and gloom think pieces about how AI will impact tech—most of them fixated on the “death of the software developer.” As AI enhances existing development tooling, it's natural that developers will work at higher levels of abstraction and existing processes will become obsolete.

But this feels more like evolution than death. The way we communicate with computers is becoming closer to how we communicate with humans. There's a shift from identifying developers by the languages they write to the problems they solve.

Yes, this transformation is important. Yes, we need to understand AI's moral and ethical impact on humanity. But what interests me is how AI might help software move beyond Tech and into Craft.

The Liberation of Programming Languages

As AI integrates into development processes, our existing non-AI programming languages and tooling lose their commercial value. They become liberated from the constraints of capitalism: revenue targets, business objectives, scale requirements, performance metrics, growth imperatives.

When there's no external objective other than creation, software development can become a “capital C” Craft.

Think about traditional crafts—weaving, woodworking, papermaking. Many practitioners deliberately reject modern machinery, not because it's inefficient, but because it removes the mark of the human hand. I can imagine new software communities forming with similar principles, refusing AI-assisted tooling for the sole purpose of highlighting human creativity and intention.

A Different Kind of Software Creativity

This new motivation could lead to forms of software creativity we've never seen before. It's the rebirth of a medium: programming languages that seem inefficient under current market drivers become languages that allow deeper levels of control under a new purpose.

Imagine software built not for users or revenue, but for the pure joy of creation. Code written as poetry. Applications that prioritize beauty over functionality. Digital experiences crafted with the same intentionality as hand-thrown pottery.

A Seed of Positivity

In all the rubble of AI disruption discourse, here's something genuinely exciting: the possibility that software development could rediscover its soul as a craft. Not everything has to scale. Not everything has to optimize for engagement or conversion.

Sometimes, the most meaningful work happens when we choose the harder path—not because it's more efficient, but because it's more human.


(Original – No AI Modification)

It’s impossible to escape the doom and gloom think pieces anticipating how AI will impact the Tech industry, the majority of it focused on the death of the Software Developer. As AI enhances existing Software Development tooling (programming languages, IDEs, models, data analysis, project management), it’s natural that Software Developers will work at a higher level of abstraction and existing processes will become obsolete. This change is more of an evolution than a death… the way we communicate with computers is becoming closer to how we communicate between humans and there’s a shift from identifying a developer by the computer languages they write to the problems they solve. And yes, this is important, and yes, it’s also important to understand moral and ethical impact of AI on humans as a whole, but what is interesting to me is how AI will help Software move beyond Tech and into Craft. As AI integrates into Software Development processes, our existing non-AI assisted programming languages/tooling are no longer seen as valuable and will be liberated from the constraints of Capitalism: revenue, business objectives, scale, performance, growth, etc. When there is no external objective other than creation, Software Development can turn into a ‘capital C’ Craft. Similar to how traditional Crafts (weaving, woodworking, papermaking *wink wink*) reject modern machinery, there can be the formation of new Software communities that refuse AI-assisted decision-making in their tooling solely for the purpose of highlighting the mark of the human hand. This new motivation could lead to a different form of Software creativity beyond what we’ve seen, and that’s exciting! It’s the rebirth of a medium: a programming language that is now seen as inefficient under current drivers becomes a language that allows a deeper lever of control under a new purpose. A seed of positivity in the rubble.


Food for thought: