AI didn’t kill developers, it exposed the true value of human teams (opinion article at Executive Digest)
By Tomás Santos, Head of International Business at 99x Portugal (original article in Portuguese published at Executive Digest)
Over the past two years, the technology industry has been dominated by one single conversation: Artificial Intelligence.
Almost every week, a new prediction emerges about the end of traditional software engineering. Founders talk about AI agents capable of replacing entire teams, while executives face growing pressure to automate operations, reduce costs, and accelerate delivery.
But is that really the case?
There is truth in this enthusiasm. AI is undoubtedly transforming the way software is developed. Development cycles are becoming shorter, productivity is increasing, and prototypes that once took months can now be created in days.
However, behind this excitement, a more pragmatic discussion is starting to emerge.
What is the real cost of AI adoption?
When subscription costs start raising questions — who would have thought we would get here? — combined with operational complexity, exposure to security risks, scalability challenges, and perhaps most importantly, the absence of clear accountability, the conversation becomes more complex.
Generating code is not the same as building sustainable digital products.
This is precisely why nearshore services are becoming increasingly relevant, although with a very different positioning from the one traditionally promoted by the industry.
For a long time, nearshore was mainly associated with cost optimization. Today, that narrative is no longer enough.
The best nearshore partners are no longer just providers of developers. They have become strategic extensions of engineering organizations, contributing not only to delivery capacity, but also to operational maturity, collaboration, and continuous product evolution. Co-creation is what ultimately makes all the difference.
This distinction is fundamental because AI, on its own, cannot build mature and resilient products.
Software engineering remains highly dependent on human judgment: from architecture decisions and security considerations to business understanding, product strategy, communication, and long-term accountability.
AI can accelerate several parts of the process, but it does not take responsibility. And at scale, responsibility becomes critical.
This reality is particularly visible in industries where trust is essential, such as banking, healthcare, insurance, mobility, and enterprise platforms dealing with sensitive data. In these contexts, “almost correct” is rarely acceptable.
The future, therefore, is not a competition between AI and humans.
It belongs to companies capable of combining AI acceleration with strong engineering cultures and highly collaborative teams.
The next generation of nearshore will likely be defined by trust, speed, alignment, and engineering maturity, rather than by cost efficiency alone. Europe is especially well positioned for this transition.
Across the region, organizations are becoming more pragmatic in their adoption of AI. Topics such as governance, cybersecurity, compliance, resilience, and human oversight are increasingly present in boardroom discussions. This shift creates space for a more balanced operating model.
A model where AI accelerates delivery, while experienced teams remain responsible for quality, continuity, scalability, and business alignment.
A similar movement is also gaining momentum in North America.
Ironically, as AI increases development speed, collaboration becomes even more important. When organizations build faster, mistakes also scale faster.
Poor architecture decisions become more expensive, misalignment becomes riskier, and security vulnerabilities become more critical.
As a result, companies are rethinking what they truly need from technology partners. Not only low-cost execution, but trusted execution. This could become one of the main competitive advantages of the next decade.
In the near future, almost every company will use AI in some form. That, by itself, will no longer be a differentiating factor. The real differentiator will be the ability to combine AI with excellent human execution more effectively than the competition.
Technology, by itself, does not build great companies. People do.
AI is transforming software engineering, no doubt. But it does not eliminate the need for experienced teams. If anything, it increases the value of high-level engineering partnerships.
And that may profoundly redefine the future of nearshore in Europe and North America.
