A steep drop in junior hiring
Anthropic has nearly stopped hiring junior staff for technical roles. The share of junior positions among new hires fell from 27 percent to 9 percent since early 2025.
Agents outwork humans on hours
Inside the company, AI agents were logging six times as many hours as humans by August 2026. A significant part of the work is now carried out by agents.
The pipeline for expertise is at risk
Researchers warn that if junior positions disappear, experienced specialists will be in short supply down the road. They call this the "tragedy of the cognitive commons": young people who are not trained today cannot become tomorrow's senior experts.
An open question
That warning also raises the question of whether such specialists will even be needed anymore. With agents taking over work at this pace, the bottom rungs of the career ladder going missing is set to be a sector-wide debate.
