Our Take: AI could be the death of entry level jobs, but only if we allow it

In my more cynical moments, which admittedly are more often than I’d like these days, I find myself comparing AI to the One Ring.

An all-powerful object desired by all, corrupting those that fall under its spell by subverting their ambition for power, and ultimately stripping away all humanity from those seeking to possess it – sound familiar?

As I said, that’s only when I’m feeling cynical, but it’s getting harder to find arguments against this view.

Within the realms of HR, the excitement around AI has become an energy that is hard to argue against – the voices of those asking ‘why’ are drowned out by those demanding ‘how’.

That’s not to say that AI doesn’t offer numerous positives to HR professionals and workers alike, but the pace of this movement seems to ignore the second-hand impact it will have on the world of work.

Take, for example, the entry level job – a now critically endangered role that AI is apparently set to be totally obliterated about as quickly as an unnecessary Peter Jackson prequel trilogy.

The recent comments by Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic, that as much as half of entry-level jobs could be gone in the next five years ‘thanks’ to AI, caused no small amount of consternation and discourse.The recent comments by Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic, that as much as half of entry-level jobs could be gone in the next five years ‘thanks’ to AI, caused no small amount of consternation and discourse.

It's full steam ahead on AI and the handbrake has been thrown out the window

This is just one of the latest announcements heralding our bright, AI-powered future of work.

Last month, CEOs of Klarna and IBM both detailed how AI adoption has led to reductions in their respective workforces – specifically in the HR department at IBM.

LinkedIn commenters have had a field day with this material, offering sage advice as to why this is a positive development (particularly if you’re developing your own AI product) or what businesses should do to best capitalize on this trend.

Our Chief Reporter, Allie Nawrat, spent time canvassing the HR analyst community to find out why and how HR leaders can turn the death of entry-level jobs into an opportunity and there are many insightful points made.

But I keep coming back to what Mercer’s Jason Averbook said at UNLEASH America last month on this topic: “If this doesn't scare the heck out of you, it should.

“If you graduated from college, it's very hard, if not impossible, to find a job unless you're building a network or your privilege.”

Now, what really stood out to me in Amodei’s comments about the potential death of entry-level work was his acknowledgment that he is at the helm of an AI company responsible for this and there is a “duty and obligation” to be honest about it.

“You can’t just step in front of the train and stop it,” he added.

To my mind, this sounds like a transparent threat – they can so they will, and you’re going to have to deal with the consequences because you can’t stop this.

Maybe I’m letting my own skepticism of AI cloud my judgement here, but that’s what opinion columns are for.

Perhaps this is just another in a series of workplace revolutions, like the introduction of computers or the Internet, but speak to just about anyone in the HR space and they’ll tell you in detail exactly why it’s not the same at all.

Entry level is where employees learn the world of work

Entry-level jobs are, more often than not, thankless roles comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks – I know mine was, but it also taught me multitudes about how 'work' works.

This will also be a vital part of the personal development of young people coming into the workforce whose education and social perspectives were decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What many of us learned by osmosis just by going about our lives, these kids are going to need to learn on the job in real-time, without the safety nets of the past.What many of us learned by osmosis just by going about our lives, these kids are going to need to learn on the job in real-time, without the safety nets of the past.

These roles are also crucial to the day-to-day operations of any organization.

The case for AI to automate huge swathes of this is strong and history shows that automation has transformed many industries, such as manufacturing and assembly, for the long-term betterment.

But this didn’t happen overnight - these shifts took years to come to fruition and even then, there were damaging repercussions for workers that hadn’t been accounted for by those making the decisions.

It’s a topic we’ll be addressing in an upcoming UNLEASH webinar about how organizations can grow during lean times.

Without giving away all the good stuff in advance, the words “hot mess” were used more than once during our initial discussions, referring to organizations that replace entry-level workers with AI without a long-term strategy.

In Allie’s article, Lighthouse’s Ben Eubanks also makes the point that one answer to all this is to “rethink what entry-level work is."

While this is a good point and one that many business leaders will hopefully follow, it's also an opportunity to highlight Ben's insightful piece on AI's impact on our cognitive and creative skills.

Because if we go ahead and replace entry-level workers with AI in the next 12-18 months, where does the future workforce come from?

How are they going to build the experience and learn the skills, both technical and soft, that employers require?

How will they develop their careers if they can’t even get through the door to begin with?

AI can be a wonderful tool to help people thrive at work, learn new skills and ways of working, bring new ideas and innovations to life, but only if it is used and regulated in a cautious and respectful way.

A blind rush to replace people with AI will have long-lasting and damaging consequences further down the road.

I can’t help but feel those leading the charge are simply handing the One Ring back to Sauron in hopes of being at the front of the line to watch the destruction of Middle Earth.I can’t help but feel those leading the charge are simply handing the One Ring back to Sauron in hopes of being at the front of the line to watch the destruction of Middle Earth.