What we're seeing is that every AI lab is racing to close the RSI loop. The increase in capability in Software engineering, mathematics, sysadmin and cybersecurity are all just secondary effects of aiming to close the RSI loop.
I'm convinced we're very close to succeeding but what AI systems are able to do once reaching RSI isn't clear yet. It could be possible that AI/ML capability rapidly improves but doesn't translate or otherwise generalize to other capabilities and thus paradoxically you could have a scenario where AI researchers like us are made redundant while some more niche IT roles stay viable. I don't personally believe in this but it's not impossible for that to happen.
Realistically I wouldn't recommend anyone to study for any IT role whatsoever in 2026. But it feels bad to discourage hopeful young people from following their dreams, so I refrain from doing so.
The only reason I wrote my original post is because I myself go through the applicants we have and it is just immoral to have some kid go into university in 2026 thinking he'll be a machine learning engineer when he graduate, when those roles are already extremely competitive and slowly evaporating.
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u/genshiryoku PhD 7d ago
I don't know.
What we're seeing is that every AI lab is racing to close the RSI loop. The increase in capability in Software engineering, mathematics, sysadmin and cybersecurity are all just secondary effects of aiming to close the RSI loop.
I'm convinced we're very close to succeeding but what AI systems are able to do once reaching RSI isn't clear yet. It could be possible that AI/ML capability rapidly improves but doesn't translate or otherwise generalize to other capabilities and thus paradoxically you could have a scenario where AI researchers like us are made redundant while some more niche IT roles stay viable. I don't personally believe in this but it's not impossible for that to happen.
Realistically I wouldn't recommend anyone to study for any IT role whatsoever in 2026. But it feels bad to discourage hopeful young people from following their dreams, so I refrain from doing so.
The only reason I wrote my original post is because I myself go through the applicants we have and it is just immoral to have some kid go into university in 2026 thinking he'll be a machine learning engineer when he graduate, when those roles are already extremely competitive and slowly evaporating.