The AI industry just invented a new job. Wait until you hear what it does.

AI Summary

Mo Bitar discusses the emergence of a new job title in the AI industry: 'forward deployed engineer.' He claims this role, originally coined by Palantir, is being adopted by major AI labs like Anthropic and OpenAI, which have launched multi-billion dollar ventures (Anthropic's $1.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, and OpenAI's $14 billion Deployco) to provide these engineers as a service to enterprises. Bitar argues that this development is a 'con' and a confession by AI companies that their technology, rather than replacing human labor, has made existing engineers 'lazy' and reliant on 'easy buttons.' He characterizes these 'forward deployed engineers' as 'slop contractors' who quickly build impressive demos and prototypes that inevitably fail after about six months due to lack of robust engineering. Bitar presents a dystopian future where OpenAI and Anthropic become the sole providers of software development, controlling access to advanced AI models that create software, potentially becoming 'hundred trillion dollar' companies. He suggests a way to avoid this future is if these companies keep their models open and accessible, which he notes is not currently happening with Anthropic's 'Mythos' model. Finally, Bitar offers cynical advice for job seekers to 'game' the system by updating their resumes with bullet points from Anthropic's job descriptions, using AI to pass technical interviews, and taking credit for AI-generated work, likening it to Dwarkesh Patel's interview preparation methods.

Claims Extracted (11)