Thomas Jefferson formulated a thought in 1813 that is more relevant today than ever:
Knowledge is infinitely divisible without the original owner losing anything.
Or in modern words:
Once knowledge has been created, its duplication costs almost nothing.
This exact mechanism applies to software today – and AI is accelerating it dramatically. What used to be a scarce commodity that only highly qualified specialists could provide suddenly becomes a mass product. And as soon as something becomes radically cheaper, a second economic law applies:
The cheaper a unit, the greater the total quantity sold.
If you combine both effects, a completely new profession emerges:
Programming as a service for everyone – as accessible as a haircut.
When code becomes practically free
For decades, software was a high-priced specialty product.
Not because the individual bits were expensive, but because creation was expensive – the knowledge, the training, the scarce resource of humans.
With AI, this changes fundamentally:
- Code is created in seconds.
- Quality increases, errors decrease.
- The marginal cost of an additional software project approaches zero.
Jefferson describes exactly this phenomenon:
Once created – infinitely reproducible.
When software becomes drastically cheaper as a result, the price-quantity law kicks in:
Demand explodes.
Software is not only used more often – it is used everywhere:
- In crafts
- In retail
- In schools
- In families
- In micro-enterprises
- In associations
- In hobbies, micro-projects, and everyday processes
And this is exactly where the parallel arises.
Why programmers are becoming the new hairdressers
Hairdressers are a profession that remains stable for decades despite low financial resources, low entry barriers, and often little formal education. Why?
Because the value does not lie in the cutting itself.
The value lies in the service process:
- Understanding people
- Interpreting wishes
- Calming fears
- Translating taste
- Facilitating decisions
- Making results visible
The craft is the surface.
The service is the core.
With AI, programming becomes exactly such a profession:
- The technical part becomes trivial.
- The service part becomes crucial.
- The work shifts from “writing code” to “accompanying people”.
Suddenly, almost anyone – even without higher education – can offer software for others:
- Small tools
- Automations
- Individual bots
- Mini-apps
- micro-SaaS
- Personal digital solutions
Just as anyone today can get a haircut, in the future anyone will be able to commission digital solutions.
And just as many people today can learn to cut hair, in the future almost anyone will be able to create software solutions – with AI as a tool.
A new mass profession emerges
The profession of programmer will split:
1. A small elite works on the systems that make everything possible.
They build the large models and architectures.
2. A broad mass provides everyday digital services.
They work close to people – like hairdressers.
This means:
- Local mini-service providers
- Cheap, fast solutions for everyday problems
- No academic entry requirements
- More socially than technically oriented
- Enormous demand due to the extreme price reduction
The profession is being democratized.
In this logic, AI is not a job killer.
It is a job transformer.
Conclusion: Jefferson predicted it 200 years ago
Jefferson’s law explains why AI multiplies software production:
Knowledge is infinitely copyable.
The price-quantity law explains why this creates a huge market:
What becomes cheap is used en masse.
And the hairdressing trade shows how a professional concept can look that remains stable in an environment of low entry barriers and high everyday relevance.
It is precisely at this intersection that the programmer of the future emerges:
a service profession for everyone.