Of course primary cause could be ZIRP, but AI definitely accelerated the problem.
Interns at big tech maybe impacted less, because their systems are so complex, but when I look at job boards or talk with engineers I see they're mentioning interns less, AI assisted coding more.
Bar for the interns is higher now, why do I need 3 interns to polish the product if I can complete 70% of the job with AI and hire 1 intern to fix other parts