Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has just made a remarkable statement that in the next 12 to 18 months, most of the programming code serving internal AI development efforts at Meta will be done by AI agents.
Speaking in a one-hour interview with podcast founder Dwarkesh Patel, Zuckerberg said: I guess somewhere in the next 12 to 18 months, we will reach the point where most of the programming code for these efforts will be written by AI. And I don't mean to mention suggesting a few lines like the self-fulfillment feature. Im talking about giving it a target, it can run it on its own, improve, find problems, and write higher-quality code lines than the average of programmers.
This is not the first time Zuckerberg has made such a statement. Less than five months ago, during a controversial appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he predicted that perhaps in 2025, Meta and some other companies developing AI will have systems that can be equivalent to a mid-range software engineer.
However, the change in timelines is making many people question. From expectations that AI agents could replace the majority of developers in 2025 alone, Zuckerberg now admits that possibility will not come true until at least mid-2026.
Such adjustments show why the public should be cautious with statements from the AI industry. While AI could replace part of mid-range programming in the future, at the present time, predictions like Zuckerberg's are more promotional than reflecting a built-in technological capability.
