4 ms·
Why are phd-level-agents paid twice as much software developers? Why don’t we see similar value in the real world? $2,000 for high income knowledge workers?
by techpineapple 2y ago
Why are phd-level-agents paid twice as much software developers? Why don’t we see similar value in the real world? $2,000 for high income knowledge workers? None of these numbers make sense.
Also I don’t really have any intuitive sense of what a phd-level agent would be, the cynical part of me thinks it is a marketing term because people mentally associate one with smart.
- turnsout 2y agoI'm bullish on agents, but I do wonder what this agent could possibly be doing to justify a $240k salary, which is around market rate for a CEO at an SMB. It would need to be generating leads and closing sales, or doing the day-to-day work of at least 3 people. This would have to be backed by something 10X better than the current SOTA models.
- dtagames 2y agoIt's nowhere near CEO pay for a tech company, but it is right at what those companies pay for PhD ML experts and also what they pay for the top end of software dev jobs.
- noobermin 2y agoSMB is small to medium sized business. May be in places other than the US.
- croes 2y agoBut this experts would be liable for their mistakes. Who takes the liability for the agent’s mistakes and hallucinations?
- cowboylowrez 2y agoI'll tell you who will be liable for AI's mistakes. The crickets. Yes, the crickets you hear every time this question is asked. We must punish the crickets severely and we will, trust me!
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> it is right at what those companies pay for PhD ML experts Where can one hire PhD ML experts for $240k?
- impossiblefork 2y agoFrance, the Netherlands, Sweden, probably China too. Also places like Russia, Armenia and so on. I think you can PhD ML experts in Sweden for substantially below 240k, maybe even as little as 124k.
- borgdefenser 2y agoI could see paying this to have one super intelligence on staff at a large company but that isn't what these models are yet. Most business tasks and problems you certainly don't need a PhD to solve. Even if you could hire human PhDs at min wage I don't see how most businesses can even leverage that. If all bank tellers had PhDs in quant finance it would change basically nothing.
- dtagames 2y agoWhat part of it doesn't make sense? These numbers are very much inline with salaries for jobs at those same levels, in fact terrifyingly so. Someone thinks, incorrectly, that these agents are a direct swap for that experience.
- techpineapple 2y agoMost PHD’s make less than high income knowledge workers and software developers, don’t they?
- seanmcdirmid 2y agoEven PhD SWEs are likely to make the same (or even less) as their peers who started working after their undergrads rather than going to school for 5-8 more years, especially if their topic isn't hot (read: not AI related).