When AI takes over productivity, which Web3 careers are starting to vanish?

Author: 137Labs

Title: Under the AI Wave, Which Web3 Careers Are Disappearing Fast?

In recent years, Web3 has been considered a major development direction for the internet. From DeFi and NFTs to DAOs, many new business models have continuously emerged, creating numerous new careers. However, as generative AI and automation technologies rapidly enter this field, the structure of Web3 professions has begun to change significantly.

An increasing number of projects are using AI to perform tasks that previously required human effort, such as coding, analyzing on-chain data, generating market reports, and handling community issues. As these tools become more mature, demand for some roles is noticeably declining, while new types of positions are gradually appearing.

Overall, AI has not reduced Web3’s development potential but is transforming industry talent requirements.

1. Web3 Careers That Are Gradually Disappearing

In the Web3 ecosystem, highly standardized and repetitive jobs are increasingly being replaced by automation tools. With the development of generative AI and automation, many tasks that once required manual effort can now be quickly completed by algorithms and intelligent systems, leading to a clear decline in demand for certain roles.

1. Junior Solidity Developers

Smart contract development was once one of the hottest careers in Web3. But with the rapid advancement of AI programming tools, a large amount of standardized code can now be generated automatically. For example, common code structures like ERC-20 tokens, NFT contracts, and basic DeFi protocols can be AI-generated in a very short time. AI can not only produce complete code frameworks but also perform basic testing and logical checks. As a result, more companies are reducing their need for junior developers and prefer senior architects to review and optimize AI-generated code.

2. Web3 Researchers / Analysts

In the past, Web3 projects often required researchers to conduct extensive industry research and data compilation, including trend analysis, project evaluation, market research, and report writing. However, with AI technology development, many research tasks can now be automated. For instance, AI can quickly analyze on-chain data, simulate token economic models, and automatically generate structured market research reports. Consequently, roles primarily responsible for basic information gathering and data analysis are gradually decreasing in demand.

3. Community Managers and Customer Support

Community operations used to be a vital part of the Web3 ecosystem, with many projects needing community managers and customer support staff to handle user issues and maintain community order. But with the development of AI customer service systems, many repetitive communication tasks can now be automated. AI can provide 24/7 automatic replies, real-time multilingual translation, automatic spam filtering, and quick responses to common user questions. In this context, some basic community support roles are gradually being replaced by AI systems.

4. Crypto Traders

In the field of crypto asset trading, AI’s advantages are particularly evident. AI can analyze large amounts of market data in a very short time and execute trades automatically based on preset strategies, including high-frequency trading, arbitrage, and risk management. Compared to human traders, AI has clear advantages in execution speed, data processing, and trading stability, while also reducing operational costs. Therefore, in trading environments that rely on technical strategies, traditional human trading roles are gradually decreasing.

5. NFT Content Creators

The emergence of generative AI has had a profound impact on the NFT ecosystem. Today, AI can generate大量 visual content quickly, such as illustrations, avatars, and various forms of digital art. This significantly lowers the barriers to NFT content creation and intensifies market competition. As a result, some NFT creators who rely on basic design skills or simple visual creation are gradually losing their market advantage.

6. Low-Barrier NFT Creators

With the proliferation of AI image generation tools, methods of digital content creation are changing. In the past, some NFT projects produced大量 works through simple image combinations or basic designs. Now, AI can complete similar or even more complex creations in a very short time. This poses a huge challenge to traditional low-barrier NFT creation models. Creators lacking unique ideas, artistic styles, or brand value are gradually losing their competitive edge as AI technology becomes more widespread.

2. Emerging New Web3 Careers

Although demand for some roles is decreasing, AI is also creating new career opportunities in Web3. As artificial intelligence and blockchain technology continue to merge, the industry’s need for multidisciplinary talents with cross-field skills is steadily increasing.

1. AI × Web3 Architect

AI × Web3 architects are becoming one of the core roles in future Web3 technical teams. As AI and blockchain systems are deeply integrated, more projects require building systems that support automated decision-making and intelligent collaboration. These roles involve designing the architecture for AI and blockchain system synergy, establishing interaction mechanisms between AI agents and smart contracts, and planning decentralized AI network infrastructure. They also need to design on-chain automation execution systems. This position typically requires expertise in blockchain infrastructure, AI models and agents, distributed computing, and cryptoeconomics.

2. AI Agent Training Coordinator

As multi-agent systems are increasingly applied in Web3, some projects need dedicated personnel to train and coordinate AI agent behaviors. The main responsibilities include defining collaboration rules among multiple AI agents, designing behavior constraints, optimizing decision logic in DeFi and DAO scenarios, and continuously monitoring on-chain AI agent activities. This role leans toward AI behavior management and system governance, playing an important role in future Web3 automation ecosystems.

3. Web3 Prompt Engineer

With the growing application of AI tools in Web3 development, prompt engineering is evolving into a new specialized role. Web3 Prompt Engineers are responsible for designing complex prompts to generate smart contract code, building AI-driven research and analysis workflows, optimizing interactions between AI and blockchain systems, and designing behavior instructions for AI agents. Compared to traditional prompt engineering, this role emphasizes designing complex task workflows and practical AI system applications.

4. On-Chain Data Analyst with AI

Blockchain networks generate大量 public data daily, and AI can help analyze this data to discover potential patterns. The main duties of an on-chain data analyst include analyzing fund flows, monitoring market trends, identifying suspicious transactions, and predicting ecosystem development. They also need to build AI data analysis models to extract valuable insights from vast blockchain data. This role requires a combination of data science, blockchain analysis, and AI modeling skills.

5. AI-Driven Smart Contract Security Expert

As AI automates code generation, smart contract security issues become more complex. AI-driven smart contract security experts are increasingly important in Web3. They use AI tools to detect vulnerabilities, design automated auditing systems, simulate attack paths, and assess overall protocol security risks, thereby enhancing the safety of DeFi protocols and blockchain applications. The smart contract security field is considered one of the fastest-growing areas in future Web3 industry demand.

6. Web3 Automation Strategy Designer

In DeFi, automation strategies are a key development direction. Web3 automation strategy designers develop automated yield strategies, arbitrage systems, and risk control algorithms, as well as design smart asset allocation strategies that automatically adjust assets across protocols. These strategies are typically executed by algorithms or AI agents, requiring expertise in financial modeling, algorithm design, and blockchain technology.

3. Trends in Web3 Employment Structure

With the continuous development of AI technology, talent demand in the Web3 industry shows several clear trends.

First, team sizes are shrinking. Automation tools can handle many repetitive tasks, reducing the need for large foundational teams.

Second, multidisciplinary skills are becoming more important. Future Web3 talents are expected to possess blockchain, AI, and data analysis capabilities simultaneously.

Finally, the importance of senior roles is increasing. Positions related to system architecture, economic modeling, and security engineering are becoming core positions in the industry.

4. Conclusion

AI is reshaping the professional structure of the Web3 industry. Roles focused on execution and repetitive tasks are gradually decreasing, while positions requiring creativity, systemic thinking, and cross-disciplinary skills are becoming more vital.

In the long run, AI will not weaken Web3’s development potential. On the contrary, it may propel the entire industry into a new phase. In this process, talents with deep technical expertise and innovative capabilities will become the most valuable resources in the future Web3 ecosystem.