OpenAI's AI agent workforce is coming - who will keep their job?

OpenAI is reportedly gearing up to release specialized AI agents that can be hired for as much as $20,000 per month, according to a recent article by The Information.

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The article states that OpenAI is planning on releasing several "agent" products that specialize in various professions. These AI agents will vary in price depending on their specialization. For example, an AI agent software engineer could cost approximately $2,000 per month, with another software AI developer costing as much as $10,000 per month. The publication states that the most expensive AI agent could cost as much as $20,000 per month and would come with knowledge proportionate to "Ph.D.-level research."

It's unclear when these AI agents will be released or if the aforementioned prices are set in stone, but SoftBank, an OpenAI investor, has committed to spending as much as $3 billion on OpenAI agent products in 2025. It appears OpenAI will need a $20,000 per month subscription, as the company paid as much as $5 billion in running costs for its products last year, among other expenses.

It's abundantly clear that when AI can tailored for a specific profession, it will threaten the security of human workers in that profession, especially if the company behind the AI agent can sell their agent to the employer for a fraction of what a human in that profession is charging.

Unfortunately, it only seems like a matter of time before humans will be directly competing with AI agents for positions in the workforce, and these AI agents don't take days off, don't get sick, aren't insubordinate, don't ask for raises, and are cheaper per year than a human.

The quality of work seems to be the last determining factor, but given AI advancements, it seems it is only a matter of time before AI reaches a level of competency that it can check for its own mistakes, vastly improving its quality assurance capabilities, and therefore reducing its frequency of mistakes.

Does this mean humans will be replaced entirely? Many positions in various industries will be jeopardized, but humans will still have a role for quite some time, even if it is managing these new systems. Moreover, the replacement won't happen overnight as employers will be extremely hesitant to hire a fleet of AI agents and risk their business crumbling under the mistakes of faceless AI workers.

I believe the adoption will be slow, and then once proof of concept has been achieved, it will significantly speed up. At first, it might not be a total job replacement, but instead, the employee will wield AI as a tool. But how long will it be before that tool learns how to do the job better than the employee? Luckily, no one can pinpoint the exact timeframe, but given the rate of AI advancement and the nature of it developing in leaps and bounds, I believe it would be wise to consider your current profession and if it can potentially be made obsolete by AI. If it can, try and make the appropriate adjustments.

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