> why do we care about programming languages when we no longer read programming languages directly?

Because, we do?

You may not, which is fine. A lot of developers may not... that's fine. I guess you're all employed and don't risk your livelihood when things go wrong.

I do though. I take responsibility.

And just like with any junior developer I guide AI and I do review what it creates in the project that matter. (Personal tools I've entirely vibe-coded, never any client projects though)