AWS CEO explains '3 reasons why AI won't replace novice developers'
In recent years, the emergence of generative AI has raised concerns that AI will replace human employees.
AWS CEO Explains 3 Reasons AI Can't Replace Junior Devs
https://www.finalroundai.com/blog/aws-ceo-ai-cannot-replace-junior-developers
While the idea that generative AI will replace human workers is particularly prevalent in the technology industry, Gurman has long argued that 'it's foolish to use AI to replace junior employees.' In a December 2025 appearance on the business media WIRED podcast , Gurman also sounded the alarm about companies seeking to reduce costs by introducing AI.
Gurman argues that there are three reasons why AI cannot replace junior developers:
1. Junior developers are often familiar with AI tools
While some companies are trying to replace junior employees with generative AI, Gurman says, 'In my experience, many of the most junior employees are actually the ones with the most experience with AI tools. So they're the ones who can get the most out of them.'
Young people have grown up with new technologies, which allows them to quickly adapt to cutting-edge technologies like generative AI tools. In fact, many new graduate developers learned about AI tools during school or internships, and are accustomed to exploring new features, quickly generating code, and extracting the best results from AI agents.
In a 2025 survey of developers by knowledge community Stack Overflow, 55% of developers early in their careers reported using AI tools daily in their development process, a higher percentage than more experienced developers. Veteran developers often already have their own established workflows and may take longer than younger developers to adopt an entirely new tool like generative AI.
2. Junior developers are not important for cost reduction
For some reason, companies tend to target new employees and young workers when replacing them with AI, but these young employees have low labor costs, so the cost reduction effect is not great. Garman points out, 'They're usually the cheapest because they're fresh out of college and generally have low incomes. So if you're thinking about cost optimization, you shouldn't just target them.'
Therefore, when companies talk about improving profit margins, it is unreasonable to only focus on junior developers and other young employees. True optimization should be done with the whole company in mind, and there are more areas where expenses can be reduced than just on junior labor costs.
◆3: Firing young employees cuts off the talent pipeline
'The third problem is that at some point it all self-destructs,' Gurman said. 'When you don't have an internal talent pipeline, when you don't have junior people to develop, companies often find that's where their best ideas come from.'
Just like a sports team that hires only veterans and never recruits, when the veterans retire there will be no players who understand how to play the game. Hiring recent college graduates also brings fresh ideas based on the latest trends and a willingness to innovate.
Even more importantly, young people will form the foundation of the future workforce. If a company stops hiring young employees, it will cut off the pipeline of talent it can develop in-house, and it will no longer be able to select future leaders from within the company. According to
As head of a company that provides cloud computing services to everything from Netflix to U.S. intelligence agencies, Gurman has seen firsthand how companies are using AI, and he worries that companies that rely solely on AI with short-term thinking and neglect to hire and train young people could end up with a talent shortage.
While advances in AI will certainly disrupt the way we work and live, and the coming years may be turbulent, Gurman said, 'I'm confident that in the medium to long term, AI will create far more jobs than it will initially destroy.'
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