In the wave of AI, which Web3 jobs are rapidly disappearing?

Author: 137Labs

Over the past few years, Web3 has been considered a crucial direction for internet development. From DeFi and NFTs to DAOs, numerous new business models have emerged, giving rise to many new professions. However, with the rapid entry of generative AI and automation technologies into this field, the job structure of Web3 has begun to change significantly.

More and more projects are starting to use AI to accomplish tasks that were previously done by humans, such as writing code, analyzing on-chain data, generating market reports, and handling community issues. As these tools mature, the demand for some positions is declining significantly, while new types of positions are gradually emerging.

Overall, AI has not diminished the development potential of Web3, but it is changing the industry's demand structure for talent.

I. The Gradually Decreasing Number of Web3 Jobs

In the Web3 ecosystem, some highly standardized and repetitive tasks are gradually being replaced by automation tools. With the development of generative AI and automation technologies, many tasks that originally required manual labor can now be completed quickly through algorithms and intelligent systems, leading to a significant decrease in demand for some positions.

1. Junior Solidity Developer

Smart contract development was once one of the most sought-after professions in the Web3 industry, but with the rapid development of AI programming tools, a large amount of standardized code can now be generated automatically. For example, common code structures such as ERC-20 token contracts, NFT contracts, and basic DeFi protocols can be automatically generated by AI in a very short time. AI can not only generate complete code frameworks but also perform basic testing and logic checks. Therefore, more and more companies are reducing their need for junior developers and preferring senior architects to review and optimize AI-generated code.

2. Web3 Researcher/Analyst

In the past, Web3 projects typically required researchers to complete extensive industry research and data processing, including industry trend analysis, project evaluation, market research, and report writing. However, with the development of AI technology, much of this research work can now be automated. For example, AI can quickly analyze on-chain data, simulate token economic models, and automatically generate structured market research reports. Therefore, the demand for research positions primarily responsible for basic information processing and data analysis is gradually decreasing.

3. Community administrators and customer service

Community operations were once a crucial part of the Web3 ecosystem, with many projects requiring community administrators and customer service personnel to handle user issues and maintain community order. However, with the development of AI-powered customer service systems, many repetitive communication tasks can now be automated. For example, AI can provide 24/7 automated responses, real-time multilingual translation, automatic spam identification and filtering, and quick answers to frequently asked user questions. As a result, some basic community customer service roles are gradually being replaced by AI systems.

4. Crypto Trader

In the realm of cryptocurrency trading, the advantages of AI technology are particularly evident. AI can analyze vast amounts of market data in an extremely short time and automatically execute trading operations based on pre-set strategies, including high-frequency trading, automated arbitrage, and risk control. Compared to human traders, AI offers significant advantages in execution speed, data processing capabilities, and trading stability, while also reducing operating costs. Therefore, in trading environments that rely heavily on technological strategies, traditional human trading positions are gradually decreasing.

5. NFT content creators

The emergence of generative AI has profoundly impacted the NFT ecosystem. AI can now generate vast amounts of visual content in a short time, such as illustrations, avatars, and various forms of digital art. This has significantly lowered the barrier to entry for NFT content creation, while also intensifying market competition. As a result, some NFT content creators who rely on basic design skills or simple visual creation are gradually losing their original market advantage.

6. Low-barrier NFT creators

With the widespread adoption of AI image generation tools, the way digital content is created is changing. In the past, some NFT projects generated a large number of works through simple image combinations or basic designs, but now AI can complete similar or even more complex creative processes in a very short time. This poses a significant challenge to the traditional low-barrier-to-entry NFT creation model. Creators lacking unique creativity, artistic style, or brand value are gradually losing their competitive edge after the widespread adoption of AI technology.

II. Emerging New Web3 Careers

While demand for some positions is decreasing, AI is also creating new career opportunities in the Web3 industry. As artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies continue to integrate, the industry's demand for multi-skilled professionals with cross-disciplinary capabilities is steadily increasing.

1. AI × Web3 Architect

AI × Web3 architects are becoming one of the core roles in future Web3 technology teams. With the deep integration of AI and blockchain systems, more and more projects need to build system architectures that support automated decision-making and intelligent collaboration. These roles not only require designing the collaborative architecture between AI and blockchain systems, but also building the interaction mechanism between AI agents and smart contracts, and planning decentralized AI network infrastructure. Simultaneously, these professionals also need to design on-chain automated execution systems. Therefore, this role typically requires practitioners to have a comprehensive understanding of blockchain infrastructure, AI models and agent systems, distributed computing architectures, and cryptoeconomic models.

2. AI Agent Training Coordinator

As multi-agent systems are increasingly used in the Web3 ecosystem, some projects are beginning to require dedicated personnel to train and coordinate the behavioral logic of AI agents. The main responsibilities of an AI agent training coordinator include defining collaboration rules between multiple AI agents, designing behavioral constraint mechanisms for agents, optimizing their decision-making logic in DeFi and DAO scenarios, and continuously monitoring the on-chain behavior of AI agents. This role leans more towards AI behavior management and system governance, and plays a crucial role in the future automation ecosystem of Web3.

3. Web3 Prompt Engineer

As AI tools are increasingly used in Web3 development, prompting engineering is gradually evolving into a new professional role. The main responsibilities of a Web3 Prompt Engineer include designing complex prompts to generate smart contract code, building automated AI research and analysis processes, optimizing the interaction between AI and blockchain systems, and designing behavioral instructions for AI agents. Compared to traditional prompting engineering, this role places greater emphasis on the design of complex task flows and the practical application capabilities of AI systems.

4. AI On-Chain Data Analyst

Blockchain networks generate massive amounts of publicly available data daily, and AI technology can help analyze this data and uncover potential patterns. The main responsibilities of AI on-chain data analysts include analyzing on-chain fund flows, monitoring market trends, identifying abnormal transaction behavior, and predicting ecosystem development trends. Furthermore, they need to build AI data analysis models to extract valuable information from massive amounts of blockchain data. Therefore, these roles typically require candidates to possess a data science background, blockchain analysis skills, and AI modeling abilities.

5. AI-driven smart contract security expert

As AI-powered code generation technology becomes more widespread, smart contract security issues are becoming increasingly complex. Consequently, the importance of AI-driven smart contract security experts in the Web3 industry is constantly growing. These experts typically use AI tools to detect code vulnerabilities, design automated auditing systems, simulate potential attack paths, and assess the overall security risks of protocols, thereby improving the security of DeFi protocols and blockchain applications. Smart contract security is also considered one of the fastest-growing areas of demand in the future Web3 industry.

6. Web3 Automation Strategy Designer

In the DeFi ecosystem, automated strategies have become a significant development trend. Web3 automated strategy designers are primarily responsible for developing automated profit strategies, automated arbitrage systems, and risk control algorithms, while also designing smart asset allocation strategies that enable assets to automatically adjust across different protocols. These strategies are typically executed automatically by algorithmic systems or AI agents; therefore, this role requires a combination of financial model understanding, algorithm design skills, and a background in blockchain technology.

III. Trends in Web3 Employment Structure

With the continuous development of AI technology, the talent demand in the Web3 industry is showing several obvious trends.

First, team sizes are getting smaller. Automation tools can handle a lot of repetitive tasks, reducing the need for a large number of basic positions on project teams.

Secondly, multi-skilled individuals are becoming increasingly important. Future Web3 talent will often need to possess expertise in blockchain technology, AI technology, and data analytics.

Finally, the importance of senior positions continues to rise. Roles such as system architect, economic model design, and security engineering are becoming core positions in the industry.

IV. Conclusion

AI is reshaping the job structure of the Web3 industry. Some execution-oriented, highly repetitive jobs are gradually decreasing, while jobs requiring creativity, systems thinking, and cross-disciplinary skills are becoming increasingly important.

In the long run, AI will not diminish the development potential of Web3. On the contrary, it may propel the entire industry into a new phase. In this process, truly technically skilled and innovative individuals will become the most important resource in the future Web3 ecosystem.