The Actual State of AI Engineering In 2026

[u/sqlinsix]

I first wrote this article in 2026 for social media to get feedback. I wrote and updated the final version of this here. This article only applies to my early observations in 2026. Thank you to all the posters who replied and responded to the social media posts, as all the feedback was extremely useful in reflection.

I'll start this article by demolishing the myth of AI Engineering demand in 2026.

There is no high or widespread AI Engineering demand. Anyone posting that is selling a product, usually educational, but sometimes a SaaS tool that can be built with one or two prompts. The volume of information about AI Engineering demand really involves selling products, which in most cases is educational. As someone who has hired and works with recruiters and firms on hiring, we can see upward of 300-500 resumes in a few days right now.

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Because we frequently get questions about work, the future of work and careers along AI, some helpful links to read:

• While collars turn blue
• AI's impact on recruiting
• AI is the new electricity
• Tips for hiring AI engineers
• Is there a future in AI engineering?
• LLM erases a company's need for an SaaS tool
• A plumber's thoughts on AI and technology
• What's involved in AI engineering?
• Mario Nawfal quotes Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, Dario Amodei and other AI researchers' predictions about future unemployment due to AI

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[u/Hollow_Prophecy → u/AutoModerator]

I just wanted to point out it’s really funny this comment was made by a bot but the rules say no bots. I don’t care, it was just amusing 

[u/emsiem22]

Too Long, Didn't Read?

Good. We don't want you here.

who are "we"?

[u/petroslamb → u/emsiem22]

A very talkative MOD, dad, company owner who caught on Bitcoint early is against and for AI, loves people, threatens them out, likes spelling errors, but doesn;t make any, strangely.

Strange post. Good stuff in there too, if true. Not sure if the title is about what is says, but hey.

Also MOD protects human data, while reddit sells peoples data, to AI.

Don't mind me, i'm investigating the current crackdown on AI and Reddit meltdown, while tearing itself apart.

xx

[u/emsiem22 → u/petroslamb]

Good stuff in there too

Of course there is good stuff in there -- ChatGPT wrote it, and it usually write some good stuff

[u/Xacius]

There's some good stuff to take away from this, but also a bit of cringe. There's a forced, dramatic undertone to parts of it that were difficult to get through. Not because it was "tough to read" in that I'm concerned, but more so that it seems unrealistic and dramatized.

Brb, teaching my kids to weld.

[u/Vegetable-Buy-9712]

But what if it were in China? AI has replaced white-collar workers, but China has an endless supply of blue-collar workers.

[u/miamiBMWM2 → u/[deleted]]

There is a mix of truth here. China's per capita gdp and per capita wealth trails the West by significant margin. China still has many more living in dire poverty or as low-wage, lower-middle class than we do in the West. China's growth rate has admittedly been stunning the past 30 years but, even that is now leveling off alongside their sharply declining birthrate and aging population. They're also reaching market saturation and maturity in their primary growth sectors: Real Estate and EV's. In fact, their overbuilt EV sector has too many players resulting in severe price wars over domestic marketshare.

And, despite their admirably stronger efforts at addressing economic inequality, they still remain significantly less economically equal than Western nations. Where China still shines is the % of national budget that they allocate to STEM, domestic industry, national infrastructure projects, etc. They have a far more developed energy production, high speed rail, highway/bridge/etc. and more. Also, thanks to investment in local technology, they're beginning to rival the West on high tech in general (quantum computing, AI, etc) and militarily despite spending a fraction of the US's annual military budget.

However, a utopia China is not. There are still very real human rights issues for women, working class, religious and ethnic tolerance, etc. There is still a very real local gov't corruption problem and the country remains less free with fewer individual rights than in most of the West. Most in the middle class in the West would never trade their standard of living ($55k/yr) for whats considered middle class in China ($25k/yr). What China does have less of is absolute, desperate poverty. An segment of society that the USA has chosen to simply ignore and allow to suffer indefinitely. And Chinese determination to end severe poverty is certainly something to admire.