AI Can Write Code, But It Won't Replace Software Companies

InnovationAI Can Write Code, But It Won't Replace Software CompaniesByThomas Ryd,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 05, 2026, 10:00am EDTThomas Ryd is CEO & cofounder of Northern.tech, a device lifecycle management leader with a mission to secure the world's connected devices. gettyThe headline story of the past two years is that AI is coming for human jobs. Take software engineering. Marc Benioff announced Salesforce was considering hiring zero new engineers in the future, citing AI productivity gains. Entry-level developer hiring has dropped 20% since 2022. Read only those numbers, and the conclusion seems obvious: AI can code, so there is less need for people to do the same.A closer look at the same market data tells a different story. On Indeed, job postings for software engineers are up 11% annually, outpacing overall postings. Bank of America's employer survey found that companies are expanding software budgets and increasing engineering headcounts. IBM is "tripling entry-level hiring in the United States, including software developers." And across the industry, the roles growing fastest are not the ones furthest from AI; they are the ones closest to accumulated domain knowledge—where humans and technology intersect.The question worth asking is not whether AI can write code. It clearly can. The question is whether AI can replicate what mature software companies actually sell: not code, but solutions.Can AI Build Enterprise-Grade Software?An AI model can credibly generate code that appears to be an enterprise platform. It cannot, however, recreate the decades of intelligence that went into it—partnerships, strategies, security, compliance, behavioral patterns and usage. Code is replicable. Context is not.Enterprise-grade products are built on decisions made by teams with...