Will AI replace web devs?

Will AI Replace Web Developers?

Not even close. AI tools like ChatGPT are incredible assistants, but they’re more like power drills than carpenters. They can generate boilerplate code or debug simple errors, but they can’t understand the soul of a project. When your client changes requirements for the third time mid-sprint, when you need to balance performance with accessibility, or when you’re wrestling with that obscure browser bug that only appears on old Android devices – that’s where human devs thrive. AI lacks intuition, context, and the ability to navigate messy human dynamics.

What Can’t AI Do Yet?

Here’s where AI still stumbles:

1. Creative Problem-Solving: AI regurgitates patterns from training data. It won’t invent a novel animation technique for that complex loading sequence or architect an elegant state management solution for real time collaboration features. It copies – it doesn’t create.
2. Understanding “Why”: AI can write a login function, but it can’t explain why JWT should be stored in HTTP-only cookies instead of local Storage. It lacks the deeper security awareness that comes from years of debugging breaches.
3. Taming Legacy Monsters: Throw an AI at a 10 year old codebase with jQuery spaghetti, Webpack 2 configs, and PHP snippets? It’ll either crash or suggest solutions that break everything. Humans navigate tech debt with surgical precision.
4. Ethical & UX Judgment: Should that “dark pattern” checkout button be orange or red to trick users? AI doesn’t care. It can’t weigh business goals against user trust or accessibility needs.
5. The Human Stuff: Negotiating scope creep, calming a frantic client before launch, or mentoring junior devs? Pure human magic.

The Real Win? Synergy.

The future isn’t AI vs. devs – it’s AI with devs. Let ChatGPT draft documentation, generate test data, or explain regex. Then you step in: refine the logic, inject creativity, and own the outcome. The best devs in 2025 won’t fear AI – they’ll command it like a co-pilot.

Hot take: If your job is just copying Stack Overflow answers? Yeah, AI might “replace” you. But if you solve unscripted problems? You’re irreplaceable.

Over to you:
What’s the most facepalm AI fail you’ve seen?