I think this happens all the time. Since good programmers can automate practically everything, they tend to automate as much as makes economically sense for the

I think this happens all the time. Since good programmers can automate practically everything, they tend to automate as much as makes economically sense for them. So programming, almost by definition, always involved all tasks that are not automated yet. Programming gets easier and harder that way at the same time: Previous tasks (e.g. taking care for memory management) become easier or automated way, while harder tasks remain (larger, more complex applications, higher abstraction levels). So I'd rephrase it that way: Engineers and programmers are effected every day by this "threat", but so far worked quite well for to their benefit, they just operate mostly on higher and higher levels, while still having to keep in mind (and having to fix) the lower levels. Kind of full stack, with a growing stack, thinner and thinner on lower levels, but overall higher and higher.