AI may replace researchers before engineers or sales

A surprising claim about the future of jobs inside artificial intelligence labs is stirring debate across the tech industry. According to comments attributed to an OpenAI employee, research roles may be automated by AI before engineering or sales jobs.

The claim suggests that even highly intellectual positions may not be as secure as once believed as AI systems grow more capable.

Researchers vs AI

The comments were made by Hyperbolic Labs Co-Founder and CTO Yuchen Jin, who said that an OpenAI researcher told him that “researchers are considered the first kind of job that would be automated.”

Jin continued on X that infrastructure engineers would follow later, while sales teams would remain human-led the longest. While the OpenAI employee was not named, the quote quickly went viral for contradicting conventional wisdom on job security in AI research labs.

According to Jin, a lot of modern research work involves activities such as idea generation, experimental design, testing different options, and analysing outcomes. These are domains where highly advanced AI systems are already able to work quickly and at scale.

He also said that most research work follows predictable patterns, making it easier for AI to replicate. However, he also said that the best researchers, who are always able to redefine problems, will still be hard to replace.

This could make infrastructure engineers more resilient to the complexity of AI systems. Jin has described the infrastructure of AI as chaotic, full of edge cases, and based on highly customised code bases that AI models have not been trained on.

Errors can be expensive, and human judgement is required. Sales jobs seem to be the safest at the moment, as they rely very much on trust, relationships, emotions, and negotiation. Jin called sales the “final boss” for AI.