The Hottest Job of the Year Goes Cold

Two years ago it was one of the most sought-after skills on the planet: the ability to ask AI questions that would yield great answers. The “prompt engineers” who could do this commanded salaries of up to $200,000.

Now, prompt engineers are about as much in demand as zeppelin pilots are. The role has gone from near the top of the tech-job wish list to the bottom. Indeed, as part of a recent survey from Microsoft, 31,000 workers across 31 countries were asked what new roles their companies were considering adding in the next 12 to 18 months. Prompt engineering was second from the bottom, with AI coding, AI-data interpreting, and AI security topping the list.

This reversal of fortune shows how fast the environment around AI is changing, and how difficult it can be for firms to figure what roles should change—and how. “A lot of companies are still getting their arms around what activities they can specifically automate,” says Jonathan Wildman, a senior client partner with Korn Ferry Advisory.

Companies are cutting back on all sorts of new roles right now. The latest survey showed fewer than 7.2 million job openings across the country, the lowest figure since 2020. But several specific factors explain why prompt engineering has fallen out of favor so quickly.

One reason, experts say, is the rapid advancement in many AI models over the last 24 months. Sure, a well-honed query might make a marginal improvement in the quality of an AI-generated answer. However, most large language models have evolved to be more conversational and aware of context. Almost anyone can get a decent response from AI these days, and numerous online sites, both free and paid, offer advice or query templates to anyone looking to improve the quality of their questions.

Many companies now expect not just specialists but also new hires to be proficient at using AI. The savviest firms weren’t hiring prompt engineers simply to come up with good questions for AI bots; they also were tasking them with interpreting the results AI produced, and hoping that in the process they would glean new business insights or conceptualize new innovations.

AI’s rapid evolution makes it challenging for many leaders to figure out how to incorporate the technology into their business. Many suspect that not having AI will leave them vulnerable to fast-moving competitors. But they don’t want to back the equivalent of the Betamax videocassette, a once-promising technology that was quickly surpassed by a rival. The result is that some CEOs are acting like deer in headlights. “Leaders are hesitant right now, because they want to invest in the right place,” says Shanda Mints, Korn Ferry’s vice president of RPO analytics and implementation. “But they don’t know what the right place is.”

The creators of the large language models themselves still employ prompt engineers. Many other firms, however, are transitioning those people into other AI-specific roles. Two years ago, Chris Cantarella, global sector leader for Korn Ferry’s Software practice, accurately predicted that the vogue for prompt engineers would pass quickly. But he still believes that plenty of new career opportunities exist today for employees with AI proficiency. “An entire field of careers and job roles will quickly evolve with it,” he says.

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s Workforce Management capabilities. 

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