Basic coding skills remain essential even as artificial intelligence increasingly assists in software development, according to Google‘s head of research and vice president Yossi Matias. He compares coding it to fundamental mathematical skills, saying that everyone should master.
“I think that the basic notion of learning the basic disciplines remains as important as ever,” Matias told Business Insider during an interview. He emphasised that coding fundamentals are comparable to basic mathematics, stating, “I think that basic coding is like basic maths. You need to understand what’s going on there.”
While AI tools handle junior-level programming tasks, Matias believes this evolution creates new opportunities. “Perhaps even more so now, there are going to be many more opportunities to actually build on that,” he explained.
The Google executive highlighted AI’s broader impact beyond coding, particularly in healthcare applications. “We got some testimonials from people that say, this might’ve saved my life because I got some information that got me to see a doctor,” Matias shared, referring to Google’s AI-powered image classification tools for healthcare purposes.
Matias’ comments comes as Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently disclosed that “more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI.” However, he added that the code is “reviewed and accepted by engineers,” for which Matias’ advice that “everybody should learn how to code” is quintessential.
He acknowledged that some junior professionals have faced “some challenges” in getting “the experience that they want.” The research chief expressed optimism about future opportunities in coding, stating, “Perhaps even more so now, there are going to be many more opportunities to actually build on that.”