Daily · Friday, September 25, 2026
Sakana taps Schmidhuber for RSI lab amid safety-hiring gap
- Open AI roles
- 82 on the weekdown
- Created month to date
- 134,448 Modelled
- Employers tracked
- 192
Calls to shut AI labs are growing, but employers are voting with requisitions for builders, not evaluators. Sakana AI’s move to bring on Jürgen Schmidhuber to steer a new RSI lab centered on autonomous systems and world models underscores where momentum sits: toward pushing capabilities and shipping tools. Across the 192 employers we track, 4,409 AI roles were open as of 2026-09-25, down 82 on the week. Our model puts new AI jobs created month-to-date at roughly 134,448. That gap between rhetoric and hiring shows up in our own data: engineering and data roles keep expanding while evaluation and safety remain thin, even as commentators talk consensus on safety and a price war. Meanwhile, the shape of work is changing on the ground. Industries are weaving AI into workflows, shifting from traditional engineering pathways toward mindset-first approaches that prize adaptability over specific stacks. For people whose jobs touch AI, this mix means two things: near-term demand favors those who can build and integrate systems, especially in autonomy and modeling; and workers in adjacent roles will feel both uplift from productivity and strain from redefined expectations. Safety and evaluation hiring is not gone, but it is not where the bulk of openings sit today.
The stories
- DISPLACED
AI's Democratic Revolution: Transforming Global Workforces
AI is reshaping the workforce, with roles evolving as traditional engineering pathways give way to a mindset-focused approach. Industries are integrating AI to enhance productivity, creating both new opportunities and challenges for workers.
Why it mattersWork shifts from credentials to adaptable mindsets, changing how workers qualify and how firms redeploy talent.
- TOOL_LAUNCH
Sakana AI Appoints Jürgen Schmidhuber as Chief Scientific Advisor
Sakana AI has appointed Jürgen Schmidhuber as Chief Scientific Advisor to lead its new RSI lab, focusing on autonomous systems and world models.
Why it mattersA new RSI lab points to demand for autonomous systems and world-model skills, creating niche research and engineering roles.
- ANALYSIS
Labs urged to slow, but hiring favors build: 1,760 eng vs 46 safety
Amid calls to “I think the answer is we have to shut the labs down” and a push for safety, our tracker shows employers adding engineering and data roles far faster than evaluation and safety.
Why it mattersHiring patterns show engineering outpaces safety, signaling where budgets and near-term work sits.
- ANALYSIS
Safety talk surges, but hiring favors builders, not evaluators
Commentators saw safety consensus and a price war; our tracker shows engineering and data roles dominate while evaluation and safety hiring remains scarce.
Why it mattersDespite louder safety rhetoric and a price war, employers still concentrate openings in building roles.