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Ask HN: Will source code cease to be IP?

4 points by asasidh ↗ HN
As AI-generated code becomes ubiquitous, what's the point of version controlling machine-written source code? Are we nearing the end of human-readable code as we know it? Why bother with human-readable code at all? What does this future hold for programming careers, and will source code remain a valuable form of IP?

3 comments

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christophilus
I don’t think we’re close to that future. I couldn’t imagine letting an LLM change my payment system Willy Billy with no review, no history of changes, nothing.

My prediction: VCSs are gonna be with us for a long time, and there will be value to readable, maintainable code for the rest of our lives.

andrewfromx
How about also the end of SaaS? Why pay 100k a year or so for something you can have claude write in a weekend and host yourself?
threecheese
Taking this thought a little wider, source code may become less of a strategic asset to a business in general. It could enter the realm of supplies, like paper is used by a bookkeeper, and the strategic asset is how the models are constructed and trained (if at all, and not just SaaS).

The entire ecosystem of software and open source could fall apart as Nth order consequences of a reduced need for humans to create software and collaborate on software. For decades we’ve been improving languages, platforms, libraries as hardware progresses (and contributing to that cycle), all so that humans can put together software systems “at scale”. If non human intelligence takes our place, that ecosystem is simply no longer needed, and I fear that will be a net negative for technology and open source specifically.