---
title: "Will AI Replace Software Engineers? (2026)"
description: "BLS rates software engineers' exposure to AI as very high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+10.2%…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-software-engineers"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Software Engineers? (2026)

**Short answer:** AI will reshape this job more than most, but BLS does not forecast it disappearing. The exposure is among the highest BLS measured, yet it still projects employment to grow faster than average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places software engineers in its very high AI exposure category, among the occupations most exposed to current AI. BLS projects employment to change by +10.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 95,300 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Very high | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 6/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +10.2% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 95,300 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $135,980 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high (this job) | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Thinking creatively: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Making decisions and solving problems: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 3.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Processing information: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Working with computers: 4.6/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Time spent sitting: 5.0/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Documenting/recording information: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## O\*NET tasks

- Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.
- Confer with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to design systems and to obtain information on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces.
- Develop or direct software system testing or validation procedures, programming, or documentation.
- Consult with customers or other departments on project status, proposals, or technical issues, such as software system design or maintenance.
- Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.
- Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace software engineers?**

AI will reshape this job more than most, but BLS does not forecast it disappearing. The exposure is among the highest BLS measured, yet it still projects employment to grow faster than average. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +10.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 95,300 openings a year.

**How exposed are software engineers to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Software Engineers are in the very high category, alongside 198 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a software developer's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are processing information, working with computers and time spent sitting. The parts that hold up best are thinking creatively, making decisions and solving problems and establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a software developer a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, software engineers score 6 out of 100, higher than 1% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $135,980 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/software-developer.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology