Software was INHERENTLY simpler 35 years ago, modern tech and tools just means software features & complexity fills the void and does more , and I would argue software today is less reliable and less durable than it was back then...

I agree AI is a productivity tool for most developers, but software is being commoditized with SaaS so in the future AI will just be used to stitch together SaaS and a lot fewer developers will be needed to craft novel system s