Latest news with #AparnaChennapragada
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Microsoft Chief Product Officer on the AI Shift
Aparna Chennapragada, Microsoft Chief Product Officer of Experiences and Devices, talks about the transformation of the world of work with AI and how productivity will be impacted by the new technology. She speaks with Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde live from the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Engineering Leaders on How AI Will Change Talent
Aparna Chennapragada, Chief Product Officer of Experiences and Devices at Microsoft, Osi Imeokparia, CEO of Kode With Klossy and Amjad Masad, Founder & CEO of Replit join Bloomberg's Emily Chang to explore how AI is reshaping computer science education and what that means for the future of engineering roles and hiring at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft Chief Product Officer on the AI Shift
Aparna Chennapragada, Microsoft Chief Product Officer of Experiences and Devices, talks about the transformation of the world of work with AI and how productivity will be impacted by the new technology. She speaks with Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde live from the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
NDTV
30-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Microsoft Chief Product Officer's Message For Coders After Laying Off 6,000 Employees
Aparna Chennapragada, the chief product officer (CPO) of experiences and devices at Microsoft, has said she "fundamentally disagrees" with the notion that coding careers are obsolete and computer science irrelevant. Ms Chennapragada's statement came on the heels of the tech giant laying off nearly 6,000 people, roughly 3% of its global workforce. Learning to code has become more valuable than ever, even though the way we code is changing with time, Ms Chennapragada said during Lenny's Podcast. "A lot of folks think about, 'Oh, don't bother studying computer science or the coding is dead,' and I just fundamentally disagree," she said. "If anything, I think we've always had higher and higher layers of abstraction in programming," she added. Microsoft, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year, emerged as one of the first companies to double down on artificial intelligence (AI) when the tech sector witnessed the historic launch of ChatGPT in 2022. The job cuts at Microsoft come as the company continues to invest aggressively in AI. In April this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI now wrote up to 30% of their codes in certain projects. This raises questions about the demand for human programmers in future. But Ms Chennapragada argues that AI represents just another layer of abstraction in the evolution of programming, highlighting they don't program in assembly anymore. "Most of us don't even program in C, and then you are kind of higher and higher layers of abstraction," she said and suggested that engineers might become "software operators" instead. There will be an "order of magnitude more software operators", she added. "Instead of 'Cs,' maybe we'll have 'SOs,' but that does not mean you don't understand computer science," she said. For project managers, Ms Chennapragada is expecting modified responsibilities, focused on "taste-making and editing". The lay-offs came as part of Microsoft's effort to cut costs while channelling billions of dollars into AI, something even Google is doing. "We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Economic Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Is coding dead or just evolving: As AI takes over keyboards, what's left for human engineers, is the future of coding paradoxical?
iStock While AI now generates 30% of Microsoft's code, Chief Product Officer Aparna Chennapragada argues coding is still crucial—just redefined. Yet with thousands of software engineers laid off, including those who trained AI tools, the tech world is left wondering: is coding thriving in abstraction or quietly being phased out? As Artificial Intelligence strides into every corner of the tech world — now capable of writing 30% of Microsoft's code, a question echoes across developer forums and college campuses: Is coding still worth learning? At first glance, the signs seem ominous. Microsoft, one of the world's biggest tech employers, recently laid off 6,000 employees. A significant portion of them were software engineers. Yet, in an almost paradoxical twist, Microsoft's chief product officer for experiences and devices, Aparna Chennapragada, is urging young professionals not to abandon computer science. On a recent episode of Lenny's Podcast , she made a bold claim: 'Coding is not dead. It's evolving.' The contradictions are hard to ignore. On one hand, Microsoft executives are embracing AI as a transformative force. On the other, headlines shout about mass layoffs. In Washington state alone, over 40% of those laid off were software engineers — the very people helping build and integrate AI into Microsoft's systems. It raises a provocative question: Are coders being asked to build the tools that could render them obsolete? Take Jeff Hulse, a Microsoft vice president who pushed his 400-person team to adopt OpenAI tools to automate as much as 50% of their code. Within weeks, many from that same team were laid off. For those affected, this wasn't just a restructuring — it was a bitter irony. Chennapragada, however, doesn't see this shift as a funeral for coding, but rather a metamorphosis. In her words, 'We've always had higher and higher layers of abstraction in programming.' Coding is no longer about speaking to machines in assembly or even C. It's about instructing at a higher level, often through natural language, with AI bridging the gap. She predicts a shift in roles — not a disappearance. 'Tomorrow's engineers might function more like software operators than traditional developers,' she noted. Think of it as moving from wielding the wrench to managing the entire factory floor with the press of a button. Still, she insists that the foundational knowledge of computer science remains essential. 'It's a mental model — a way of thinking,' she said. 'So I strongly disagree with the idea that 'coding is dead.'' The AI revolution isn't only changing engineering. Project and product managers — once the middlemen of Big Tech's structured layers — are under pressure from what many insiders are calling the 'great flattening.' Chennapragada acknowledges that these roles, too, must adapt. In an AI-driven world teeming with new ideas and prototypes, managers must become more like curators than coordinators. Their job is no longer about moving projects from point A to point B but identifying which ideas rise above the noise. In her words, it's about developing a knack for 'taste-making and editing' — skills that blend creativity, instinct, and clarity amid a flood of innovation. To truly understand the seismic shift underway, consider the experience of a young Google techie who recently posted on X (formerly Twitter). Reflecting on her internships since 2022, she wrote: 'AI can code, build, brainstorm, design, and iterate. Then why do we need software engineers?' Her answer? Abstraction. Three years ago, she had to manually learn every programming language and architecture before solving a single problem. Today, AI takes care of the heavy lifting. Debugging that once took an hour is now done in five minutes with an AI agent. Complex documentation has transformed into interactive podcasts and videos, turning dry technical learning into something bingeable. 'Software engineering is more fun now,' she wrote. 'The boring stuff is abstracted out. All you have is your imagination.' Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has openly stated that in some teams, nearly one-third of all code is generated by AI. It's an impressive feat — or a forewarning, depending on where you stand. The central dilemma remains: If AI is making code faster and cheaper, where does that leave the humans? Are we being elevated to more creative, managerial roles — or slowly coded out of the equation? Aparna Chennapragada believes the former. 'AI is a democratizing force,' she says. But for the thousands now jobless, it's hard not to wonder: Is AI opening doors — or closing them? Either way, one thing is clear. Coding isn't dead. It's just no longer what it used to be.
