Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu Drops Honest Statement on Coding

When someone says, "AI will write 90% of the code," Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu doesn't disagree. He agrees. But not for the expected reasons. Vembu believes that the majority of that code is simply "boilerplate"—and that AI is well-equipped to eliminate it.

In an article on X, Vembu wrote: "When people say 'AI will write 90% of the code' I readily agree because 90% of what programmers write is 'boiler plate'." He explained that programming has two types of complexity: "essential complexity" and "accidental complexity," which he attributes to the classic software engineering text, The Mythical Man-Month.

According to Vembu, "AI is doing an excellent job of eliminating accidental complexity. Humans still had to deal with the essential complexity."

But can AI go beyond the cleanup mode?

"AI can make mincemeat of patterns previously discovered (by humans). "Can it find completely new patterns?" he wrote. "As with humans, this is much less common, and discovering new patterns requires a quality known as 'taste', 'knowing where to dig', or 'following a hunch or conviction all the way'. I'm not sure if AI can do this. "I'm not sure if that can be brute forced."

Outside of AI, Vembu highlighted India's manufacturing gains, particularly in the medium-sized machinery sector. In a separate X post responding to industrialist Thomas Savan, he praised Maharashtra and Gujarat companies for producing high-precision machines that were previously imported.

"I am very pleased to see this tweet. It makes me want to go and visit these companies! We must demonstrate the ability to build complex machines that produce advanced products and make those machines affordable," Vembu wrote.

He added that India should begin by producing everyday household goods in small towns via distributed manufacturing. Scaling up, he said, will necessitate extensive industrial R&D across multiple tech areas.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently supported the 'Make in India' initiative, citing ₹1.5 lakh crore in PLI-driven investments and 9.5 lakh jobs.