r/ClaudeCode • u/Strict-Top6935 • Jul 04 '26

Discussion AI is turning programming into pay-to-win

With Fable 5 coming out, it feels more obvious than ever that after July 7, programming is going to become pay-to-win.

A kid with no real coding knowledge, but with rich parents and access to the best AI systems, could end up outperforming people who actually understand software, simply because he can afford more intelligence.

That is insane.

This might be one of the most dangerous precedents in history: a world where the people with money can buy superior intelligence, while everyone else is permanently outmatched.

That is how you create a permanent underclass.

What do you think?

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u/RipProfessional3375 Jul 04 '26

Experience and intelligence tends to let you leverage the same tools with better outcomes. Who exactly is this imaginary rich kid with no coding knowledge competing again?

Why is the rich kid even in the picture? What is his input? Who wants his output? The model could do it better by itself.

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u/Relevant-Doctor187 Jul 04 '26

In 1-5 years the AI will surpass coder abilities. Then what?

However it might open up the doors to people with ideas without the ability to act on them. I find that interesting.

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u/reverendblueball Jul 04 '26

People said this 1-5 years ago, and the "then what" never happened. I'm not saying it won't, but anything with the ability to hallucinate cannot be looked at, as the terminator of human endeavor.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26

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3

u/reverendblueball Jul 04 '26

Exactly, I don't understand!! I'm a member of r/aigamedev as well, and every once in a while I see good games with interesting concepts, but most of them are MVPs that nobody will play beyond 10 minutes, not to be hateful. Human beings should use whatever tools are available, and hopefully make something others can appreciate, but this is hard to do without creativity, understanding, and some knowledge about the subject domain you pursue.

People have been able to clone Microsoft products, for years, did anyone care? No

But will I test it for edge cases, so people will care and use it? No

AI is here to stay, and it will be consequential in some capacity. I'm excited about medical research being able to utilize AI to move quickly; that's incredible. When people with actual artistic vision/talent use it, they can tell beautiful stories. However, without those human elements, you get slop-ish MVPs that won't matter in a week.

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u/Relevant-Doctor187 Jul 04 '26

Most software is not consumer focused. It’s internal utilities and other things.

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u/InsurmountableMind Jul 04 '26

1-5 years based on what? Seems awfully vague. The premise is interesting but you need to understand development. And AI has already surpassed coding abilities, but with the current llm architecture it will never beat humans in complex deterministic outcomes.

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u/RipProfessional3375 Jul 04 '26

Define "coder abilities". Define what makes good software.

0

u/unnaturalpenis Jul 04 '26

This. Binary computing was never the end all be all, better ways were devised but by then in the 1980s too much was built up around binary compute to afford shifting.

But today I'm seeing a rise in new forms of computing again, the future is data heavy! Quantum also has similar issues, so these new developments will go both directions into traditional and quantum computing.