The first programs were written in binary/hexadecimal, and only later did we invent coding languages to convert between human readable code and binary machine code.
So why can’t we just do the same thing in reverse? I hear a lot about devices from audio streaming to footware rendered useless by abandonware. Couldn’t a very smart person (or AI) just take the existing program and turn it into code?
We can and have done this, but there’s not much gain, which is why it’s mostly done by hobbyists to their favorite older software whose parent company went bust. It’s especially common for older games.