I mentioned algorithms, not software engineering, precisely for that reason.
But the next step is obviously increased formalism via formal methods, deterministic simulators etc, basically so that one could define an environment for a RL agent.
I'll bet you $1,000*10^32 that AI never formalizes a novel FFT algorithm worth more than a dime.
It's unlikely that LLMs are gonna get us there though. They ingested all relevant data at this point at the net effect might very well kill future sources of quality data. How is e.g. stackoverflow gonna stay alive if the next generation of programmers relies mainly on copilot and vibe coding? And what will the LLMs scrape once it's gone?