alt Hacker NewsNo extra value was generated in the example. If anything, AI in this example reduces the price of the product AND employment.
Value was destroyed.
The hope is that all these unemployed engineers can somehow generate value? Even if they do they need to generate enough value that would employ 4 engineers.
I think this is Broken Window fallacy[0], though.
If a business can create software cheaper, then it can charge its customers less for that software (or, conversely, if a business can use an AI to create bespoke software for cheaper than it would cost to buy that software) then the customer business saves money. It, in turn, can use that money to improve its offering to its customers. They, in turn, and so on.
Having cheaper things means everyone gets more things. The value created is created further down the supply chain.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window