Parents wondering whether they should send their youngsters to coding classes for kids might be forgiven for asking whether there is any point. This is because there are some major figures in technology who claim AI will soon take over the job.

However, it is not too hard to find an answer. Yes, you should send your kids to such classes, because those who claim such skills won’t be needed have a track record of getting it wrong.

This may be a particularly important time to emphasise this point because one of them is at it again.

Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI firm Anthropic, has just predicted that between six and 12 months from now, “most, maybe all” of the work currently undertaken by software engineers will be accomplished by AI. 

This might sound pretty dramatic, whether you are the parent of a child keen on pursuing a STEM career, especially in software, or a current software engineer who is apparently being told to find a new career.

What Happened The Last Time Mr Amodei Said Something Like This?

However, writing for Futurism last September, tech writer Joe Wilkins pointed out that in March 2025, Mr Amodei had claimed that AI would be writing “90 per cent of code” six months later. Yet here we were, Mr Wilkins observed, and his prediction had failed.

It may be surprising, therefore, to see that, another five months on, Mr Amodei is at it again. But the underlying reason for him being wrong before still applies now.  

Joe Wilkins pointed out that there was a key reason for the failed prediction, as research has shown that using AI actually slows down the work of software engineers and increases their workload.

Time saved in coding, research and testing is less than that spent reviewing, tweaking and waiting for the AI’s work, he explained. To this can be added the cybersecurity research showing that AI-generated code is more likely to create security vulnerabilities.

Predicting the future is never easy, but sometimes there are very good reasons to reject certain forecasts. That will still be the case no matter how many times some people insist on repeating them.