Anthropic cuts junior hiring as AI agents log six times more hours than humans

Anthropic's internal study shows technical junior hiring has plummeted since early 2025, with the share of new junior hires in technical roles dropping from 27 percent to 9 percent. AI agents now log six times more work hours than human employees, reaching a company-wide ratio of 6:1 by August 2026, and 19:1 in research departments. The company attributes the shift to growing AI agent capabilities, reporting significant productivity gains across engineering, legal, and other departments.