Narayanan and Kapoor: AI Compresses Execution but Can't Automate Decision or Delivery

Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor argue that software engineering employment data rejects the threshold-replacement narrative, framing knowledge work as a decide-execute-deliver sandwich where AI compresses only the middle layer. Because regulatory barriers are low in software yet mass layoffs haven't materialized, they argue most other professions face even less displacement risk.