Grady Booch: Why AI Won't Kill Software Engineering

Why a Founding Figure of Software Engineering Isn't Worried

When developers worry about AI replacing them, few voices carry more weight than Grady Booch. He co-created UML, pioneered object-oriented design, spent decades as an IBM Fellow, and has witnessed every major transformation since the 1970s. In this interview with Gergely Orosz, Booch makes a compelling case: "This is not the first existential crisis developers have faced. They have faced the same kind of existential crisis in the first and second generation."

On the historical pattern: When compilers came along, assembly programmers thought their careers were over. When high-level languages emerged, the same fear rippled through the industry. Each time, the people who understood it was a new level of abstraction came out ahead. Booch frames today's AI coding tools as exactly this pattern repeating.

On what software engineering actually is: "Software engineers are the engineers who balance these forces... the laws of physics, the constraints of how large we can build things, algorithmic constraints, human constraints, legal issues, and ethical issues." This is why code generation alone doesn't threaten the profession - coding was always just one part of a much larger discipline.

On Dario Amodei's 12-month prediction: When asked about Anthropic's CEO claiming "software engineering will be automatable in 12 months," Booch doesn't hold back: "I'd say politely, well, I'll use a scientific term... it's utter BS. I think he's profoundly wrong." His reasoning: Amodei "has a fundamental misunderstanding as to what software engineering is."

On the three golden ages: The first age (late 1940s-1970s) focused on algorithmic abstraction and business automation. The second age (1980s-2000s) brought object-oriented thinking and distributed systems. The third age - which Booch argues started around 2000, not with AI - is defined by platforms, APIs, and systems-level complexity. AI agents are a continuation, not a revolution.

What Actually Changes vs. What Remains

• Levels of abstraction keep rising - Assembly → high-level languages → libraries → platforms → AI assistance. Each shift freed developers from tedium while demanding new skills
• Hobbyists enter every era - Personal computers let non-programmers build; AI coding tools do the same. "More power to them. This is the most wonderful thing."
• Fundamentals never disappear - Systems theory, complexity management, and balancing human/technical/ethical forces remain essential regardless of tools
• The software world is bigger than web apps - Current AI excels at "patterns we see over and over again" but struggles with edge cases, distributed systems, and novel problems
• New skills emerge - The shift is "less from dealing with programs and apps to dealing with systems themselves"

What This Means for AI-Powered Organizations

Booch's message is ultimately optimistic: AI coding assistants are reducing friction and enabling imagination, not replacing engineers. "You are actually being freed because some of the friction, some of the constraints, some of the costs of development are actually disappearing for you."

For organizations adopting AI tools, this means investing in systems thinking and fundamentals - not panicking about headcount. The developers who understand complexity at scale, who can balance technical and human forces, will see their value increase. This is an exciting time to be in software, Booch argues, precisely because the imagination that was always the limiting factor is now less constrained by implementation details.