Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth has predicted that artificial intelligence will create a divide within the software engineering profession, with those mastering AI tools commanding premium positions while others will be left in data gathering and labeling roles.

Speaking during a recent Ask Me Anything session on Instagram, Bosworth said that engineers who learn to work with AI at an advanced level will gain an edge because they cannot easily be replaced by the tools they use.

He noted that AI will lead to “a stronger tiering of capability” between developers who embrace the technology and those who fail to adapt quickly enough.

Drawing a parallel with the internet era, Bosworth compared AI’s impact on coding to what online search once did for developers.

“In the near term, it makes our lives easier in the same way the internet made our lives easier,” he said.

Just as programmers once relied on Google to resolve obscure compiler errors or navigate complex application programming interfaces, AI is now simplifying their work in new ways.

Bosworth envisions AI providing engineers with unprecedented “leverage” that will drive improvements in both “complexity and productivity.”

He suggested that in the years to come, companies could operate with a handful of employees while still serving billions of users.

This vision aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s outlook on AI creating “midlevel engineers” who can write code and help founders build with “small, talent-dense teams.”

Zuckerberg has led an “efficiency” push at Meta since 2022, which resulted in tens of thousands of layoffs.

Bosworth acknowledged that the technology’s rapid evolution makes its exact impact on jobs difficult to predict.

“It’s hard to say how it’s going to land,” he remarked, adding that while AI could transform the nature of many roles, it is unlikely to reduce opportunities in the sector.

Instead, he believes it will drive growth by opening new possibilities.

Meta continues to invest heavily in AI, recently revealing that job applicants will be allowed to use AI tools during some coding interviews, a sign of how integrated the technology has become in the hiring process itself.