AI reshapes software development as Estonian universities adapt teaching

Artificial intelligence is taking on some software developers’ tasks, including writing and reviewing code, prompting Estonian universities to adjust their teaching for a changing labour market, ERR reports.

Kaspar Korjus, co-founder and chief executive of AI company Pactum AI, said AI is best suited to routine office work with clear instructions and tasks where it is easy to judge whether the result is correct. Writing computer programs is one example, he said, because it is possible to check whether the program works as intended.

AI is harder to use in fields where the quality of the result is difficult to assess, or in jobs without clear instructions, Korjus said. He advised IT students to focus on skills involving understanding other people, such as communication and speaking with users to understand their needs.

Korjus said Pactum AI supports the use of AI at work. The company’s workforce has not grown in recent years and has instead declined, while its revenue has increased, he said, describing the company as more efficient.

Ago Luberg, head of the applied AI research group at Tallinn University of Technology, said AI can take over work that previously occupied much of developers’ time. It can write and review code, particularly standard code that has been written many times before.

Developers are taking on more analysis and planning, as well as assigning tasks to AI agents and reviewing their output, Luberg said. He said AI can replace people only in specific parts of a job, and that the technology is generally a tool to make work more efficient.

Luberg said software development and jobs in the field would remain, but processes would need to be reconsidered. He cautioned that companies may be moving too quickly to replace people with AI and said the technology’s costs could be much higher in two years. He also questioned whether AI would still be more economical than a person if it cost ten times as much.

Luberg said it remains sensible to train IT specialists at several universities, although the profile of graduates is changing. He said routine development is no longer as much of a focus.