A new government directive is set to fundamentally change the career trajectory for China's 11 million high-earning software professionals.

On September 11, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled the "AI + Software" Special Action Implementation Plan. The core message is simple: when AI can create software, software companies must completely redefine their identity and purpose.

The plan sets ambitious targets. By 2028, authorities aim to implement 100 intelligent technology transformation projects, deploy smart programming tools and development platforms across 20,000 large-scale software enterprises, establish 100 intelligent agent software benchmarks in key industries, and nurture at least five high-quality open-source projects.

In 2025, China's software industry generated revenues of 15.48 trillion yuan, employing over 11 million people. For years—even up to now—software developers and programmers have enjoyed high-income status. Recent analysis has already questioned how a leading software house should survive when AI can write code, and now all 11 million professionals must confront their own future viability.

The first wave of transformation will hit the code production line. Previously, a software project required programmers to write code line by line, conduct repeated testing, identify bugs, and handle deployment and operations—making software companies entirely dependent on coders. In the future, AI will handle all these tasks, and companies will only need people who can design, orchestrate, and manage software. This means a massive reduction in traditional programmer roles, but a growing demand for software architects and managers. Fewer people will produce far more software than ever before. Those who fail to evolve from writing code to leveraging AI for design, production, and management will lose their value in the industry.

The second major shift concerns the very definition and function of software itself. Traditionally, software needed large-scale usage to justify its development; in the future, even managing a family's daily meals could warrant a custom application. Old software required a user to click a button, and it executed a command; new software will let a user state a goal, and an intelligent agent will independently break down the task, call tools, coordinate execution, and even learn and improve continuously.

Software companies' business models will also undergo transformation. Instead of selling licenses, project deliverables, or billable working days, they will increasingly sell models, intelligent agents, and continuous services—or charge directly based on results and value delivered. As one recent industry opinion piece put it, software vendors must become true partners of their clients, not just suppliers.

Software is only the starting point. Across all industries, broader transformations will accelerate, whether visible or not. AI is not merely something that will affect us in the future; it is already profoundly shaping our lives today.

By June 2026, daily token calls on China's large language models had already surpassed 500 trillion. Behind this staggering number, countless jobs are being shaken. But we may still be underestimating AI's true impact. We only see what has already happened; many invisible changes are still in progress, and their absence from our view does not mean they are not occurring.

AI's effect on industries, jobs, and society is like a ten-month pregnancy that ends in a single birth. Just because you don't see the child being born doesn't mean the child hasn't been growing. For many types of work, AI-driven disruption and job destruction may already be 60%, 70%, or even 80% complete. The technology may be fully ready, waiting only for a business leader's decisive move and a regulator's approval—then, one morning, everything changes and there is no going back.

Take autonomous ride-hailing as an example. The moment regulatory approval is granted, the industry could collapse overnight. Where would all those drivers go in a single night?

In short, this AI wave demands extreme caution. Do not assume it is distant or merely a speculative frenzy in capital markets. If we convince ourselves that AI—worth trillions of dollars and betting the future of major nations—is just a game, then we are the ones who are deluded, not the technology itself.