Maybe it also depends on the size of systems you tackle singlehandedly. Meaning, with AI you can try to do bigger things alone. But honestly, I would not trust this process enough to use it for things that actually matter.

I have to think about that a little, my first hunch would be to say all of the above but there are constraints.

I do for example enjoy to write pure HTML for really old systems - that I do per hand, caring how the sourcecode looks. For more practical cases - meaning my company's webpage I still use HTML and make it accessible withouht Javascript. But I'd like to think that I'm not crazy so I use a static website generator, not caring about the look of the source as much.

So I'd have to say it's less the look of the code and more ideas, algorithms and especially efficiency!

I have of course played around with LLMs and will be more interested when I have the chance to run usable models locally. But when I did, I used it for explanations and learning, not to let the AI write the actuall code because I like to understand every single bit and like the very process of coding.

Much of this might have to do with the fact that I never had formal programming training and after almost 30 years are still in the wanting to learn more mindset. Having my code written by someone else would be contrary to that goal.

Also I'm not getting paid for my code. I do use it professionally as well as personally, but only for myself and some of it is released as Free Software. Would I have to compete for contracts, LLMs would probably look a lot more attractive. But then its work and not necessarily art

Maybe it is because I do not write code for a living. But boy are you wrong on so many levels!

I don't even want to demonize LLMs, they have their place _especially_ in coding because this might be one of the very few comparably deterministic fields.

But when I write code I _want_ it to be art, nothing more, nothing less. And I will never let that go