Kevin SuraceKevin Surace is an AI pioneer, inventor, author, and human effectiveness authority helping people thrive while AI reshapes work and life.

AI Isn’t Killing Developer Jobs. It’s Killing the Backlog.

11 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Kevin Surace debunks the alarmist narrative that AI will render software developers obsolete. He explains that, contrary to fears, developers are experiencing a surge in productivity because AI tools enable teams to rapidly clear massive feature and bug backlogs—often numbering in the thousands. This acceleration allows companies to deliver value faster without resorting to layoffs, as developers possess deep product knowledge that is essential to maintain. Consequently, the real story is not job loss but a dramatic speed‑up in software delivery.

Chapters

All we heard is coders are going to all lose their jobs. We don't need them anymore. Okay. That turns out to not be the case. Let me tell you why it's not the case. Everyone I know is so excited about going so much faster to get rid of and reduce their feature backlog and their bug backlog often is in the thousands, right? And now they're starting to deliver those faster. They don't want to slow down again by cutting their headcount. And these devs know their product. So no one is cutting headcount that matters. They really aren't. And so this just turned into, wow, I can deliver all of this so much faster. That's what it turned into, and that's really important.