Engineer Venkatesh Rao compares the fear of AI job losses to mercantilism: intelligence is treated as a scarce resource that elites want to control. But AI could boost demand for human thinking, much like early capitalism made people voluntarily work more.

The article AI elites might hoard intelligence like mercantilists hoarded gold appeared first on The Decoder.

A three-month field experiment with 133 patent attorneys shows that AI boosts immediate performance, with junior lawyers gaining the most. But when the AI is taken away, only senior attorneys retain the benefits, suggesting that baseline expertise is a prerequisite for turning AI-assisted practice into lasting skill.

The article AI makes junior patent attorneys instantly better but may quietly stunt their professional growth appeared first on The Decoder.

Anthropic is hiring fewer and fewer junior staff in technical roles. The share of junior positions among new hires dropped from 27 to 9 percent since early 2025. By August 2026, AI agents across the company were already logging six times as many hours as humans. Researchers warn of a "tragedy of the cognitive commons": if junior positions disappear, experienced specialists will be in short supply down the road. That is, assuming such specialists are even needed anymore.

The article Anthropic has nearly stopped hiring junior staff because AI agents now work six times as many hours appeared first on The Decoder.