Why should kids learn to code if AI writes code now?

Kids should still learn to code, but the reason has changed. AI can now write a lot of the code, so typing code matters less. Understanding how a program works matters more: what happens first, what waits for a tap, what repeats, and where the bug is. A kid who knows those ideas can tell an AI what to build, read what it made, and fix what's wrong. A kid who doesn't has to take the AI's word for it. Those ideas are what kids 6–13 learn in their first hours of block coding, before any real programming language.

Is coding still worth learning now that AI can write code?

Yes, but the job is changing from writing code to directing and checking it. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the split. It projects jobs for computer programmers, whose work is mostly writing and testing code, to decline 7% from 2025 to 2035, and says "many companies are expected to leverage technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to automate repetitive programming tasks." In the same period, it projects jobs for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers, the people who design software and check that it works, to grow 10%.

Your kid isn't choosing a career at 8, and coding isn't only a job skill. But the trend points one way: the part of coding that AI handles is typing, and the part people keep is thinking about how a program should work.

What does a kid learn from coding, if not a job?

A way to think through problems step by step. In 2006, the computer scientist Jeannette Wing called it computational thinking and wrote: "Computational thinking is a fundamental skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists. To reading, writing, and arithmetic, we should add computational thinking to every child's analytical ability." She was clear that it's "a way humans solve problems; it is not trying to get humans to think like computers."

The team behind Scratch, the block-coding language from the MIT Media Lab, said the same about their goal in Scratch: Programming for All (2009): "our primary goal is not to prepare people for careers as professional programmers but to nurture a new generation of creative, systematic thinkers comfortable using programming to express their ideas." They described kids who use technology without making it this way: "It's as if they can 'read' but not 'write.'"

Marina Bers, who studies coding with young children, puts it as a literacy. In an interview with the Siegel Family Endowment, she said, "Learning a programming language is like acquiring a new literacy."

Does knowing how to code help kids use AI?

Early research says yes. Kazemitabaar and colleagues (2023) ran a study with 69 beginners aged 10 to 17 who had never written text-based code. Half of them could use an AI code generator while they practiced. Using it "significantly increased code-authoring performance (1.15x increased completion rate and 1.8x higher scores)." The finding that matters most for parents: "learners with higher Scratch pre-test scores performed significantly better on retention post-tests, if they had prior access to Codex." The kids who already understood block coding got more out of the AI. It's one small study from 2023, so treat it as a signal, not a law.

The flip side shows up with beginners who don't understand the code. Prather and colleagues (2024) watched university students in an intro programming course use AI coding tools. Students who already knew what they wanted used the AI to write it faster and "were able to ignore unhelpful or incorrect inline code suggestions." Students who struggled "thought they performed better than they did, and finished with an illusion of competence." Those were adults, not kids, but the pattern is the point: AI helps the people who can check it.

Which coding ideas matter most in the AI era?

The ideas that let your kid describe a program and spot what's wrong with it. They're the same ideas that come first in any block-coding course:

Sequence. A program runs in order, and order changes the result.
Events. Some code waits for something to happen, like a tap or a bump.
Loops. Some code repeats, and you choose how many times.
Messages. One part of a program can start another.
Debugging. When a program does the wrong thing, you find the line that caused it.

Debugging is the one that matters most with AI. An AI can write a program in seconds. It can't always tell whether the program does what your kid meant. The person who can read a program and say "this loop runs one time too many" is the person in charge.

How can kids start learning to code for free?

Kubrio's free Code with Blocks guides teach those ideas in 30 short guides across six worlds. The blocks run in the page, with no login and no download, for kids 6–13. Full disclosure: I built them. Here is every guide, in order:

World 1, Sequences: tell the computer what to do

World 2, Events: make it respond to you

World 3, Loops: say it once, do it many times

World 4, Forever and together: programs that never stop

World 5, Messages: one block starts another

World 6, Make a game: put it all together

Notice how many are about bugs: World 1 ends on what a bug is, and Worlds 2 and 3 each end with a "find the bug" guide. Finding the mistake is the skill that carries over to working with AI.

What age should kids start coding?

Block coding works from about 6, when a kid can follow a short sequence of steps. A 6-year-old can arrange three commands and watch what happens. Older kids can combine events and loops into a small game of their own. For a session-by-session plan by age, read how to introduce your kid to coding. For a checklist to judge any coding app, read how to get your kid into coding.

Schools are moving the same way, slowly. The 2025 State of AI + CS Education report from Code.org and its partners says "60% of high schools offer foundational CS courses" and counts 12 states that require computer science to graduate. Code.org is an advocacy group, so read its line "AI doesn't replace CS. It depends on it." as a position, not a neutral finding. It's still a fair summary of where the field stands.

Where does Kubrio fit?

Kubrio is a set of studios where kids 6–13 make real things, and I built it, so take this as a description, not a review. Two of the studios use the coding ideas from this article.

In Game Studio, your kid draws the hero and the villain on paper, gives them power cards (when something happens, what it does), and builds the rooms of a game the family plays from a link. A power card is an event, written in your kid's words. The how to make a game course walks through it in six short films, one for each department: game design, art, level design, sound, playtest, and launch. Playtest is the debugging step: play every room, find what's broken, fix it, play again.

In Robotics Studio, which is in beta, your kid programs a robot with big command tiles a few lines long, like "Find the ball" and "Bring it home," and watches the robot run each line in a 3D arena. If a line is in the wrong order, the robot shows it.

What to do at home this week

Play "robot" at home: your kid gives you exact commands to walk from the couch to the door, and you follow them exactly, mistakes included.
Open What is a command? together and finish World 1.
When something breaks, ask "Which block did that?" before you fix anything.
Ask your kid to explain one program out loud, in order.
Try one "find the bug" guide, like Find the loop bug.
Ask them to draw the game they'd make next on paper: the hero, the goal, and one rule.

Ingenious projects that inspire kids to make things — until they find the thing only they could make.

Escape the Haunted House: your kid draws the characters, picks every power card, and builds a three-room game the family plays from a link. Or see everything your kid can make in Game Studio. When you're ready, start here.

FAQ

Is coding dead because of AI? No. Typing code by hand is becoming less of a job on its own, and the BLS projects computer programmer jobs to fall 7% from 2025 to 2035. But it projects jobs for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers to grow 10%. Directing and checking AI takes the same ideas coding teaches.

Should my kid learn coding or learn to use AI? Both, in that order. Early research with kids aged 10 to 17 found that those who already understood block coding retained more after practicing with an AI code generator. Knowing how a program works is what lets a kid check the AI.

What is the first thing a kid should learn in coding? Sequence: a program runs one command at a time, in order. After that come events, loops, and debugging. The first free guide, What is a command?, starts there.

Does my kid need to learn a real programming language? Not at 6–13 to start. Block coding teaches the same ideas without typing errors getting in the way. Text languages make more sense once a kid wants to build something blocks can't.

Are the Code with Blocks guides really free? Yes. All 30 Code with Blocks guides are free for every kid, with no account and no download. The studios need a Kubrio plan.

Why should kids learn to code when AI can write code?