This has not been an easy article to research.
As you may know, my educational background is a mixture of research psychology, networking, buisness, and medical coding. This means I want to know who says what, why they say it, who benefits, and where the documentation is. AI is a hot topic. There is a lot of information out there, many opinions and predictions. It has taken a while to verify information and look the people/companies/stakeholders behind it.
First - this is my opinion based on my research. I beg you to do your own and form your own.
That said, it ain't looking good.
Meat first - will you lose your coding job to AI? Probably, but not necesarily today. Those working in difficult areas like nephrology, pediatric, and similar will do better than those in outpatient x-ray. Auditing and Compliance will also do ok. Entry level coders should beef up their skills asap and look at the harder specialties or auditing. Data analysis is also supposed to do fine, but I doubt it.
AI is learning extremely rapidly. Everything it learns helps it learn even faster. Right now it can code simple charts with minimal oversight. Sooner than comfortable, it will be doing harder charts. If your learning plan doesn't take this into account you will not be in a secure position.
There are already companies that offer AI coding. This one says charts can be coded without humans. Another site asks the visitor about a coding a very high volume of daily charts. No human coder can reach this volume. And there are more out there.
I recommend getting into the difficult areas of coding that AI won't be able to do for a few more years (?), while certifying as an auditor or compliance specialist. Documentation improvement is being touted as a good way to go, but may not be in a few years. For long term job safety, I would get coding tough cases, move up from entry level coding, and move into compliance/auditing.
If you are an aspiring coder - don't despair. Buckle down, get that entry level certification, get into an HIM department and keep learning.
AAPC currently (7/27/25) has a free 4 CEU course on AI and coding. I took it yesterday and recommend it. There are are other learning opportunities out there. The CAIMC (Certified AI Medical Coder) is offered by PMBA US. It is $124.00, and may be worth thinking on if you have the time, energy and money. Honestly I haven't finished researching the company, its ownership and reputation.
Personally, I'm considering it, but not certain it's going to help much in the mid to long run. It may be worth doing, even just as a show of williness to your employer of your commitment to grow as a coder.
We are coders/coding minded people - constant learning and upskilling is in our blood. We CAN thrive in this field! We just need to focus on continual learning of coding and softskills. Basically, keep being the wonderful humans that we are.