Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton pushes coding education and questions AI hype

In short: Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton says children should still learn coding, and he is sceptical of big claims about AI becoming all-powerful.

What's going on

Eben Upton, the founder of Raspberry Pi, told the Financial Times that learning to code is still important, even as AI tools can now write software from plain language prompts. He compared coding to a modern form of literacy, meaning a basic skill people need to understand the world around them.

Upton also made a distinction between “coding” and “programming.” In simple terms, coding is writing the instructions, while programming is deciding what problem to solve and how to break it into steps a computer can follow. He argued that without these skills, people may not understand when software, including AI, is wrong or is being used to influence them (like not being able to read a contract you are asked to sign).

On AI itself, Upton said today’s systems are “amazing and disappointing.” He doubts that AI will quickly become superhuman in every way, and he questioned the near religious tone he sees from some US tech leaders. He suggested AI could still meaningfully lift economic growth over time, but he believes the technology has limits, especially when it has to deal with the real world.

Upton also said AI could be “fantastic news” for Raspberry Pi as more AI runs at the “edge of the network,” meaning on local devices near where data is created, rather than only in distant data centers (like doing calculations on your phone instead of always sending everything to a remote server). He suggested this shift could happen faster than he previously expected.

What to watch

If smaller, more efficient AI models can run on cheaper chips, more everyday devices, from industrial screens to medical tools, may use Raspberry Pi style hardware. At the same time, the debate over AI risks may keep shifting from science fiction scenarios to more immediate political and security concerns.

Source: Financial Times