AWS CEO Matt Gurman says replacing junior employees with AI is the 'dumbest thing I've ever heard'
AWS CEO says AI replacing junior staff is 'dumbest idea' • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/aws_ceo_entry_level_jobs_opinion/
On August 19, 2025, CEO Gurman appeared on investor Matthew Berman's YouTube channel for a conversation. The conversation focused on AI-related topics, including Kiro , an AI coding tool provided by AWS.
White Collar Jobs, Hyperscalers, AI Coding, Open vs Closed, Agents, and more! (Matt Garman) - YouTube
Around the 12-minute mark in the video, Gurman says that some organizational leaders have told him, 'We think AI can replace all our junior employees.'
Gurman dismissed these leaders' claims, saying, 'That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Younger employees are probably the cheapest employees, and they're also very engaged with AI tools.'
Garman continued, 'What will you do in 10 years' time if all your employees have learned nothing?' 'I think it's absolutely critical that you continue to hire young people right out of college and teach them how to build software, how to decompose problems, and how to think properly,' he said, arguing that Kiro can help with this education.
Gurman's career advice for the AI era is that it's not just about learning specific skills, but also about learning 'how to learn something.' 'I think the skills we need to focus on are how to think for ourselves, how to develop critical thinking to solve problems, how to foster creativity, and how to develop a learning mindset to learn the next thing,' he advises.
Gurman also cautions against using the amount of code written by an organization as a metric for measuring the value of AI coding tools like Kiro. He argues that while organizations can write 'infinite amounts of code' using AI, it's likely that the quality of the code will be poor. In many cases, fewer lines of code is better, so he doesn't understand why people would brag about the amount of code their AI has written.
However, data suggests that more than 80% of AWS developers are using AI in some way. Developers' use of AI tools is increasing every week, Gurman said. 'They're writing
Gurman's comments have also become a hot topic on the social news site Hacker News.
AWS CEO says using AI to replace junior staff is 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard' | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44972151
One user commented , 'At least one CEO seems to understand that those who insist on investing in AI while ignoring young talent will ruin the company in the long run.' Also, in the real workplace, everyone has access to all the available data and information, so what's really important is people who can analyze, understand, and apply the data needed to solve problems, and that process is 'engineering.'
Additionally, anyone who has seriously considered the issue of AI has come across the question, 'What will we do in 10 years' time when all employees have learned nothing?' However, it was pointed out that this issue is being overlooked because corporate management tends to prioritize short-term profitability over long-term sustainability.
Some say that Gurman's comments have changed his view on AI, but he still believes that coding should be replaced by AI.
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