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AI Impact on Applied Science Roles

AI Impact on Applied Science Roles

1
posts
2026

This post analyzes the impact of AI on the role of applied scientists at Instacart, focusing on the redistribution of tasks and the emergence of new capabilities. It details how AI has increased productivity in standardized tasks like ML model development and data pipelines, leading to a decrease in their relative share of work. Simultaneously, AI has lowered the barrier to entry for new task categories such as Platform/Tooling and Frontend/UI development, enabling applied scientists to take on a more diverse set of responsibilities and build full-stack applications. The analysis is based on GitHub contributions and economic theory concerning technological change.

2026

How AI Changes the Role of Applied Scientists

5/22/2026

The post introduces an analysis of how AI has changed the role of applied scientists by examining their GitHub contributions between 2023 and 2025. It quantifies the increase in overall productivity (PRs and LoC) and the redistribution of tasks. Specifically, it highlights a decrease in the share of work for standardized ML and data pipeline tasks, and an increase in Platform/Tooling and Frontend/UI development. This is framed through an economic lens of task bundles and production functions, suggesting AI has raised minimum viable competence in new task classes.