The hottest AI job two years ago has already faded
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The hottest AI job two years ago has already faded
The AI prompt engineer role has largely disappeared.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Bu Shuqing, Wall Street Insights
Two years ago, AI prompt engineers were among the most sought-after roles in the tech industry, commanding salaries up to $200,000 a year and dubbed "AI whisperers" within companies. Their job was to meticulously craft input prompts to extract the best possible responses from large language models. But with rapid advancements in AI technology and deeper corporate understanding of it, the role has largely disappeared.
Jared Spataro, Chief Marketing Officer of Microsoft's AI at Work, said:
"Two years ago, everyone said, 'Oh, I think prompt engineering is going to be this hot job.' It totally wasn't."
In a recent Microsoft survey of 31,000 employees across 31 countries asked about which new job roles their companies planned to add in the next 12 to 18 months, prompt engineering ranked second to last. Roles such as AI trainers, AI data specialists, and AI security experts topped the list instead.
The swift evolution of AI technology is the primary reason behind the decline of the prompt engineer role. Today’s AI models are far better at understanding user intent and can proactively ask follow-up questions when something is unclear.
Spataro explained that large language models have evolved to become more iterative, conversational, and contextually aware. Microsoft’s AI-powered research agent asks clarifying questions, indicates when it doesn’t understand something, and seeks feedback on provided information. In short, “you don’t need to have a perfect prompt.”
Hannah Calhoon, Vice President of AI at job platform Indeed, said job postings for prompt engineers are negligible. Searches for the role on Indeed surged from two per million total searches in January 2023 to 144 per million by April 2023, but have since stabilized at around 20 to 30 per million searches.
Calhoon said:
"Maybe they discussed the value of prompt engineers, but in reality, they didn’t hire for the role."
With rising economic uncertainty and pressure to tighten budgets, companies have become more cautious about hiring in general in recent years. Companies including insurer Nationwide, workwear brand Carhartt, and insurer New York Life said they never hired prompt engineers, discovering instead that—when better prompting skills were needed—this was expertise all existing employees could be trained in.
Jim Fowler, Nationwide’s Chief Technology Officer, said the company rolled out a company-wide AI training program for all employees, with prompt engineering being one of the most popular courses.
"So whether you're in finance, HR, or legal, we see this becoming a capability within job functions, not a standalone job title."
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