Skip to content

Suffolk expert says AI will replace human coders in 10 years

Matthew Applegate A man with a beard uses a soldering iron to fix a circuit boardMatthew Applegate
Mr Applegate works with young people across Suffolk to engage in technology-based activities

A Suffolk computer expert is predicting that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace human coders in 10 years' time.

Creative Computing Club founder Matthew Applegate said: "I'm teaching the last generation of coders. We are looking at being knocked out by AI very soon."

Mr Applegate started the club in 2012 with the ethos "50% work 50% play".

"AI will creep into everything; pop music, writing... plumbers are safe! Technology is always an interesting ride," he said.

His prediction comes as a House of Lords committee says that we should embrace the positives of AI rather than just focus on the risks.

The Communications and Digital Committee's report looked at large language models (LLMs), which are what power generative AI tools like ChatGPT.

Matthew Applegate A man in front of colourful square lights looks at a handheld deviceMatthew Applegate
Matthew Applegate also produces chiptune music as Pixelh8

Mr Applegate said: "They trained AI on a thing called GitHub, which is an online repository of all the best examples of code, and some of the worst. So it was able to determine the best practices very early on.

"So we've bypassed a lot of those problems very quickly. We've got probably about ten more years of teaching code."

presentational grey line

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830