When AI writes the code, why hire engineers?

Today, AI assistants like GitHub Copilot write up to 80% of the code for senior engineers, triggering a radical transformation in the act of programming.

This shift raises existential questions for founders, investors, and corporate leaders about technical moats, talent assessment, and workforce readiness. The conventional wisdom—to simply "learn prompt engineering"—is a surface-level observation that is dangerously incomplete. It describes a change in workflow but fails to analyze the profound redistribution of the value chain happening underneath. This is a seismic shift creating new winners and losers. As always, victory will belong to those who move beyond the "what" to understand the "why."