# Which jobs will AI replace, and which are safe?

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/q/which-jobs-will-ai-replace/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

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Question

Of the 14 moments we cut that answer this, 11 say jobs will change more than vanish, 2 say AI will take over jobs and one says some work stays with people or grows. Jad Naous said on a16z Podcast (Oct 16, 2026) that engineers use agents to plan and implement work, then review and consolidate what they produce. Alex Karp said on a16z Podcast (Mar 12, 2026) that AI-driven job losses could provoke political backlash and nationalization.

## Where they stand

- Jobs AI will replace 2
  - Alex Karp
  - Thomas Laffont
- Jobs that change 11
  - Felix Rieseberg
  - Jad Naous ×2
  - Han Wang
  - Guillermo Rauch ×2
  - Ali Ansari
  - Uday Kiran Medisetty ×2
  - Jeanne Grosser
  - Yann LeCun
- Jobs that are safe or grow 1
  - David Friedberg

## Jobs that change 11

1. MTS · Oct 19, 2026 · 3 min
   **[AI shifts managers from directing work to enabling it](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-shifts-managers-from-directing-work-to-enabling-it/)**
   > “that skill super transferable very useful in my own hiring probably the thing I look for the most it's like this empathy”
   [Felix Rieseberg](https://realalpha.app/people/felix-rieseberg/) Engineering Manager, Anthropic [14:33](https://realalpha.app/v/_FSxDLhTQ5o/?t=873)
2. a16z Podcast · Oct 16, 2026 · 7 min
   **[AI cut a complex data-lake project from six months to ten days](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-cut-a-complex-data-lake-project-from-six-months-to-ten/)**
   > “And that took maybe about 10 days. In previous days, that would have taken maybe about six months for a single person.”
   [Jad Naous](https://realalpha.app/builders/jad-naous/) CEO, Grepr [24:04](https://realalpha.app/v/blkIGLlZePg/?t=1444)
3. a16z Podcast · Oct 16, 2026 · 4 min
   **[Experienced engineers get more leverage from coding agents](https://realalpha.app/s/experienced-engineers-get-more-leverage-from-coding-agents/)**
   > “the more complexity that your brain can handle, the more you can break down the tasks and kind of assign them”
   [Jad Naous](https://realalpha.app/builders/jad-naous/) CEO, Grepr [13:34](https://realalpha.app/v/blkIGLlZePg/?t=814)
4. MTS · Oct 16, 2026 · 6 min
   **[Good docs need structure, even as agents take over writing](https://realalpha.app/s/good-docs-need-structure-even-as-agents-take-over-writing/)**
   > “agents are the primary writers and maintainers of content now.”
   [Han Wang](https://realalpha.app/people/han-wang/) Co-founder, Mintlify [16:08](https://realalpha.app/v/qWZBePgX1nQ/?t=968)
5. Sourcery · Oct 16, 2026 · 3 min
   **[Engineers should manage agents, not blindly ship their code](https://realalpha.app/s/engineers-should-manage-agents-not-blindly-ship-their-code/)**
   > “so I think the role that most people are now taking with this coding agency is that of an engineering manager.”
   [Guillermo Rauch](https://realalpha.app/builders/guillermo-rauch/) Founder & CEO, Vercel [13:04](https://realalpha.app/v/WuorvLfAFmA/?t=784)
6. Sourcery · Oct 16, 2026 · 4 min
   **[Leaders must explain when their product vision has changed](https://realalpha.app/s/leaders-must-explain-when-their-product-vision-has-changed/)**
   > “it takes courage to do that because you have to sit in front of your company and you have to tell them with a straight face and conviction”
   [Guillermo Rauch](https://realalpha.app/builders/guillermo-rauch/) Founder & CEO, Vercel [1:08:50](https://realalpha.app/v/WuorvLfAFmA/?t=4130)
7. Sabrina Halper Show · Oct 15, 2026 · 6 min
   **[Human expertise must keep updating AI models](https://realalpha.app/s/human-expertise-must-keep-updating-ai-models/)**
   > “when students graduate medical school it's something along the lines of 30 to 40 percent of the knowledge is like no longer relevant”
   [Ali Ansari](https://realalpha.app/builders/ali-ansari/) Founder & CEO, Micro1 [23:41](https://realalpha.app/v/Z0zKpeBTuLc/?t=1421)
8. The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 14, 2026 · 6 min
   **[Uber still requires human review on every PR](https://realalpha.app/s/uber-still-requires-human-review-on-every-pr/)**
   > “we want to err always on the safer side because the cost of an incident for Uber is like really high.”
   [Uday Kiran Medisetty](https://realalpha.app/people/uday-kiran-medisetty/) Distinguished Engineer, Uber [59:26](https://realalpha.app/v/MDUYSMJmi8A/?t=3566)
9. The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 14, 2026 · 8 min
   **[Uber is shifting from diff counts to feature velocity](https://realalpha.app/s/uber-is-shifting-from-diff-counts-to-feature-velocity/)**
   > “we are internally talking about not necessarily just diff velocity but feature velocity”
   [Uday Kiran Medisetty](https://realalpha.app/people/uday-kiran-medisetty/) Distinguished Engineer, Uber [1:24:06](https://realalpha.app/v/MDUYSMJmi8A/?t=5046)
10. Grit · Oct 5, 2026 · 3 min
    **[Vercel runs support, BDR and RevOps with agents](https://realalpha.app/s/vercel-runs-support-bdr-and-revops-with-agents/)**
    > “the remaining support team that we have really is now finding legitimate problems in the product and then working really closely with the engineering”
    [Jeanne Grosser](https://realalpha.app/builders/jeanne-grosser/) COO, Vercel [58:16](https://realalpha.app/v/CPp_XKM7fcc/?t=3496)
11. Unsupervised Learning · May 15, 2026 · 2 min
    **[LLMs excel only where language is the substrate of reasoning](https://realalpha.app/s/llms-excel-only-where-language-is-the-substrate-of-reasoning/)**
    > “LLMs are good programmers they're not software architects they're not computer scientists right but they can program for us”
    [Yann LeCun](https://realalpha.app/builders/yann-lecun/) Former Chief AI Scientist, Meta [37:26](https://realalpha.app/v/ngBraLDqzdI/?t=2246)

## Jobs AI will replace 2

1. a16z Podcast · Mar 12, 2026 · 6 min
   **[AI firms risk nationalization if they ignore public concerns](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-firms-risk-nationalization-if-they-ignore-public-concerns/)**
   > “you get a famous horseshoe effect where there's only one thing people agree on, and that's that this is not paying the bills.”
   [Alex Karp](https://realalpha.app/builders/alex-karp/) Co-founder & CEO, Palantir [11:38](https://realalpha.app/v/Wj6ttdIeBnE/?t=698)
2. BG2 · Jun 20, 2025 · 4 min
   **[Headcount is flat while revenue grows at Mag7 and AppLovin](https://realalpha.app/s/headcount-is-flat-while-revenue-grows-at-mag7-and-applovin/)**
   > “Right-sizes the workforce. At the same time as AI comes in, now the company's lean and mean, innovates, outcompetes companies like Google and Meta”
   [Thomas Laffont](https://realalpha.app/people/thomas-laffont/) Coatue [49:14](https://realalpha.app/v/4JA7n0wTChw/?t=2954)

## Jobs that are safe or grow 1

1. All-In · Oct 10, 2026 · 5 min
   **[Math proofs fall fastest where the whole test loop runs in software](https://realalpha.app/s/math-proofs-fall-fastest-where-the-whole-test-loop-runs-in/)**
   > “The real question for AI is where can you apply that loop model in a way that you can make a better prediction or better idea, each loop”
   David Friedberg CEO, Ohalo [41:01](https://realalpha.app/v/TBLHdXABwAg/?t=2461)

Each moment is a few minutes of a long interview, cut by Real Alpha and filed under how it answers by a model that read its claim and quote. Open a moment for its full transcript. Last moment added Oct 22, 2026.