"AI can do my job, but it can't replace me"... Farewell message from AWS Chief Technology Officer

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels delivered a clear message about the future of developer careers during the closing keynote at AWS re:Invent 2025. He stated that future keynote stages should feature more “diverse AWS voices” and announced his decision to step down from the stage. While he’s not leaving Amazon, his annual re:Invent presentations on technological innovation have come to an end.

In this keynote, Vogels focused on the changing role of developers in the AI era. Addressing concerns that the rise of low-code, no-code, and generative AI tools threaten developer jobs, he asserted, “AI may replace my job, but it cannot make me useless.” This signaled the need for developers to continuously evolve to adapt to a constantly changing technological landscape.

Vogels described those who adapt to this era of change as “Renaissance Developers.” He explained that, just like Europe’s Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, today’s technological advances are ushering in another period of innovation. He emphasized that developers should no longer be just coders, but problem-solvers with systems thinking and curiosity. “Technology and creativity evolve together, and developers must take ownership of what they create,” he added.

He stressed the importance of not blindly trusting code generated by generative AI, and reiterated the critical role of human review. Vogels said, “Most people hate code reviews, but it is this process that restores human judgment and serves as the control point for quality.” He also warned that even if AI drafts code, incorrect input can result in output that appears plausible but is actually useless garbage.

The keynote also paralleled Amazon Web Services’ latest announcements. AWS recently unveiled its high-performance custom chip Graviton5, which is projected to deliver up to a 25% increase in compute performance over its predecessor. Major companies such as Adobe, Airbnb, Epic Games, Formula 1, Pinterest, and SAP have already adopted cloud infrastructure based on this chip. Additionally, new frameworks for cutting-edge AI model inference and agent-based AI development were introduced.

At the end of the keynote, Vogels highlighted the often-invisible role of developers on stage. He reminded the audience that as Amazon grew into the world’s second-largest retailer, there were unsung developer contributions behind the scenes, saying, “Much of what we create is never seen by the public, but it runs reliably thanks to developers’ professionalism and pride.” As his black T-shirt read, “Open your mind, embrace different views, the rest is insignificant,” he consistently emphasized the importance of open-mindedness and embracing different perspectives.

His departure is not a simple farewell, but a turning point for the future of technology. Vogels made it clear that today’s developers should not become a group left behind, but rather creative leaders at the center of change. The Renaissance Developer, who can evolve alongside AI and enhance technology with human insight, is the key to this future.