Research Scientist, Stanford Computer Science

I study how AI is changing knowledge work.

AI is doing to knowledge work what machines once did to muscle, compressed from generations into years. The comforting story is that we will all just move up a level of abstraction. I study whether that story is true.

Yegor Denisov-Blanch, Research Scientist at Stanford Computer Science.

How I got here

My Path

I've always gone my own way, and it's brought me a lot of joy. I've been a founder, operator, athlete, and researcher.

Age 14-18

Built a B2B e-commerce business in Spain and grew it to about $500K in revenue.

Nobody takes a 14-year-old seriously on a call, so I sold online before e-commerce was a thing.

2011

Enrolled directly into college, skipping 5 grades.

Skipped high school, scored well on the SAT, and learned by reading Wikipedia.

2016

Graduated Top 1% from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

Studied Operations Research applied to the physical world: optimization, linear & non-linear programming, queueing theory, and simulation.

2017–2022

Rose to Chief of Staff to DHL's CEO for Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

Led transformation work touching 2,500 engineers across 25+ countries, with measured productivity, NPS, and EBIT impact.

2023-Now

Building around AI, engineering productivity, and white-collar work.

Most of my work now turns research into tools for measuring AI, improving engineering productivity, and understanding how human work is changing.

Other cool stuff

Awards

  • DHL Employee of the Year Nomination1 of 6 nominees out of roughly 40,000 employees
  • Master of Sport of RussiaNational Champion equivalent. Awarded in 2013 for Olympic weightlifting

Teaching

  • Stanford CS 321MAI measurement science: evaluating, benchmarking, and understanding AI systems.

Courses I Enjoyed

  • CS329ASelf-Improving AI Agents
  • CS349DCompound AI Systems
  • CS329TTrustworthy Machine Learning
  • CS525Training Data for AI
  • CS229Machine Learning
  • CS224VConversational Virtual Assistants with Deep Learning

Deep dive

Ghost engineers

I studied private Git data from more than 50,000 engineers across hundreds of companies. About 9.5% did almost no measurable work, less than one tenth as much as a typical engineer.

9.5%engineers who do virtually nothing
50,000+engineers analyzed, across 100s of companies
14% vs 6%ghosts when fully-remote vs in-office

The estimate doesn't come from counting commits. A model scores every commit the way a panel of ten expert reviewers would: how hard was the work, how maintainable is it, how much value does it add. Counting commits only catches people who do nothing. Scoring the work catches people who commit a lot of nothing.

The finding made the cover of the Washington Post's Business section, sparked a global debate about remote work and measurement, and was amplified by Elon Musk. The strongest validation came from the companies themselves: when they checked the engineers we flagged, the ghosts were real.

Ghost engineers

Deep dive

AI & developer productivity

We measure what AI does to software output across 100,000 developers at hundreds of companies. For most of the AI boom the answer held: gains that are real, below the sales pitch, and uneven across tasks and teams. In December 2025 the answer started to change.

~100kdevelopers measured
Modestaverage lift through 2025, below the hype
Dec 2025inflection point in the data

The same expert-panel model scores every commit on time, quality, maintainability, and complexity, then tracks output as teams adopt AI. Through 2025 the average lift stayed smaller than the headlines, and it depended on the task, the age of the codebase, and how common the language was.

Most companies can't tell whether their AI investment pays off, because their metrics can't see it. That measurement gap, and the distance between teams that master AI and teams that don't, is the throughline of the work.

December 2025 marked an inflection in the data. Through the peak of the hype I kept saying we weren't there yet, and the numbers backed me up. I was right about the call and wrong about the clock: the shift arrived long before I expected it.

AI & developer productivity

The AI-productivity work is now cited and discussed across institutional, enterprise, investor, podcast, and engineering-leadership channels.

15 papers

Publications

2026
Scale Dependent Data Duplication

Studies how duplicated training data affects models differently as they scale, showing that repetition can change performance in ways averages hide.

Model Behavior & DataarXiv →
2026
The Artificial Hivemind That Wasn't

Rechecks claims that LLM answers collapse into one narrow style, and finds much more diversity across topics, models, and prompts.

Model Behavior & Data
2026
Predictive AI Evaluation Competition

Proposes a competition where researchers predict evaluation results before they are run, making AI benchmarks harder to game after the fact.

AI Measurement & Evaluation

Authored writing

Authored policy analysis and columns translating the research on AI, productivity, language, and remote work for government and public audiences.

2025
Policy analysisPermanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United NationsUN / Kazakhstan2025
Kazakhstan: Central Asia's AI Powerhouse

Strategic AI policy analysis commissioned for Kazakhstan's official diplomatic channel at the United Nations.

2025
ColumnThe Astana TimesKazakhstanMay 2025
Kazakhstan: Central Asia's AI Powerhouse

A public case for Kazakhstan's AI opportunity, grounded in productivity data from nearly 100,000 developers across 500+ companies.

2025
ColumnTengri NewsKazakhstanMay 2025
Kazakhstan Becomes Central Asian Leader in AI Race

Russian-language column on how Kazakhstan can keep its emerging lead in AI-driven software productivity.

2025
ColumnEl Confidencial / TeknautasSpainAugust 2025
I have spent years analyzing productivity in Silicon ValleyOriginal: Llevo años analizando la productividad en Silicon Valley

Spanish-language analysis of AI, ghost workers, and the changing productivity model in Silicon Valley.

2025
ColumnEl Español / InvertiaSpainJune 2025
Artificial intelligence speaks English, not SpanishOriginal: La inteligencia artificial habla inglés, no español

Argument that AI's English-language bias creates a structural productivity disadvantage for Spanish-speaking economies.

2025
ColumnEl DebateSpainMay 2025
Ghost workers: 9.3% of remote workers in Spain do nothing or almost nothingOriginal: Los trabajadores fantasma: el 9.3% de los teletrabajadores en España no hace nada o casi nada

Spanish op-ed on remote work, ghost workers, and why better measurement should protect merit rather than become surveillance.

2025
Columnmoney.plPolandMay 2025
They gain a lot from AI. But are they tripping over their own feet?Original: Mocno zyskują na AI. Ale czy nie potykają się o własne nogi?

Polish business op-ed on AI productivity gains, rework, language effects, and what local firms need to get right.

2025
ColumnInfor.plPolandMay 2025
Believe in the ghost: what do programmers really do when working remotely?Original: Uwierz w ducha: co naprawdę robią programiści w pracy zdalnej?

Polish-language piece explaining ghost engineers, remote-work structure, and data-driven productivity measurement.

Proof

Media & talks

Coverage, institutional uptake, and where the work is presented.

Institutional and company uptake

The AI productivity work now appears in policy, enterprise, and official event surfaces, not only press coverage.

AI productivity coverage

A newer coverage cluster focuses on whether AI actually improves developer productivity and whether firms can prove ROI.

Global press spread

The ghost-engineers finding travelled far beyond U.S. media, with confirmed coverage across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and post-Soviet tech press.

Media

World Bank
World BankAI-and-productivity findings used in policy discussion for a report serving 189 member countries.2025Read World Bank report
United Nations
United NationsStrategic AI policy analysis prepared for Kazakhstan's official diplomatic channel at the UN.2025Policy analysis referenced
Amdocs
AmdocsAnnounced a Stanford research collaboration to study AI's impact on software engineering productivity.March 2026Read announcement
CAST / BCG
CAST / BCGHosted AI productivity discussion with Stanford research and BCG perspective on agentic software delivery.June 2026View event
Washington Post
Washington PostMainstream coverage of Stanford software-productivity research.December 2024Read Washington Post feature
Business Insider
Business InsiderWider reach for the engineering-output research.2024Read Business Insider feature
404 Media
404 MediaIndependent reporting on measuring engineering work, not surveillance.2024Read 404 Media feature
LeadDev
LeadDevIndustry coverage of AI adoption, rework, and productivity measurement.March 2026Read LeadDev
Consumer Reports Innovation Lab
Consumer Reports Innovation LabConference recap highlighting the AI Engineer productivity talk.July 2025Read recap
Aviator / Hangar DX
Aviator / Hangar DXPodcast interview on AI and developer productivity from a 100,000-developer study.January 2026Listen
InfoWorld
InfoWorldDeveloper-press analysis of the research.2025Read InfoWorld
ITPro
ITProEnterprise-IT coverage of the findings.2025Read ITPro
Yahoo Finance
Yahoo FinanceNational finance coverage of the ghost-engineers finding.2024Read Yahoo Finance
Benzinga
BenzingaMarkets coverage of the productivity findings.2024Read Benzinga
Financial Express
Financial ExpressBusiness-press coverage of the research.2025Read Financial Express
news.com.au
news.com.auMajor Australian coverage of the finding.2024Read news.com.au
Der Standard
Der StandardLeading Austrian daily.2024Read Der Standard
El Confidencial
El ConfidencialLeading Spanish digital daily.2024Read El Confidencial
Público
PúblicoMajor Portuguese daily.2024Read Público
Estadão
EstadãoMajor Brazilian daily (O Estado de S. Paulo).2024Read Estadão
Meduza
MeduzaLeading Russian independent outlet.2024Read Meduza
China Times
China TimesMajor Taiwanese newspaper.2024Read China Times

Research reshared by Elon Musk and discussed by Marc Andreessen and Patrick McKenzie, carrying it into wider public debate.

Talks & events

Teaching

Stanford Computer Science · CS321M2026AI Measurement Science

A graduate course on evaluating, benchmarking, and understanding AI systems: predictive measurement, validity and reliability, benchmark design, and governance.

Course page →

Off the clock

Interests

Yegor seated in a gym with chalk and weightlifting plates nearbyYegor seated on a red Kawasaki motorcycle by Stanford Graduate School of Business

Weightlifting

I've been lifting for most of my life. National champion, Master of Sport, and still under the bar despite a long list of injuries.

Automating things

It started at 13 with coding bots for video games. Watching the bots play was more fun than playing myself, and I've been automating things ever since.

Supraphysiological Biohacking

Experimenting with ways to push the human body beyond its limits. Every limit I've tested so far has moved.

Motorsports

Two wheels and four. Drawn to speed, machines, and the open road. The faster you go, the quieter it gets.

Contact

Get in touch

If you study how work is changing, build in this space, or want to, get in touch.