I agree with this "maybe newer models and architectures will fix this, but for now we still need people who actually know what they are doing.".

AI grow faster, and a lot of invest are done in computers/hardware optimization and performance for AI.

It is just like the chess "computer" player.

Yes, the first ones only compute 5/6 moves forward. But now "computer" player win most of the times even very good humans player.

For code it will be the same. For the moment AI is only good to create part of code. But soon it will do a lot more and a lot better than most coders. It is not fiction, it is just facts when you see the learning curve of AI and the progress they do year after year.

AI evolution

1- They try to do the "best" code they can with the code they have been trained on

2- They can optimize code with the huge optimized code they have been trained on

3- They are multiple AI-agent that work together to build, correct, test, adapt, optimize code, and deliver it to the host server.

4- AI auto-improve code to write it in a new optimized form that human can't read easily (or can understand with a lot of time).