For young Gen Zers entering the workforce, the rise of generative artificial intelligence has brought no shortage of uncertainty.
Anthropic’s CEO has warned that the tech could wipe out many entry-level roles, while other executives have argued that younger employees may be better positioned than anyone to thrive in an AI-powered workplace.
The debate underscores one of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding AI: Will it eliminate the first rung of the career ladder, or help young job hunters climb it faster?
“I think a lot of the disagreement is centered around the speed that the AI transition will take place,” Felix Aidala, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, the job platform’s economic research arm, told Business Insider.
Entry-level job postings on Indeed have fallen about 6% over the past year, though Aidala said it’s difficult to attribute the decline to any single factor. AI, remote work, and broader macroeconomic conditions have likely all played a role, he said.
Aidala added that the job market for entry-level workers is already seeing some “AI-driven shifts,” with AI implementation roles growing “significantly” on Indeed’s site in recent months.
“Historically, technological advancements have almost always led to job growth for the economy as a whole. But those transformations take time as new roles and industries are developed,” Aidala said.
Here’s what some CEOs and executives in tech and business have said about what AI means for the next generation of workers.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has become one of the leading voices warning that AI could upend the traditional career ladder for young professionals.
Amodei has repeatedly said that AI may eliminate up to half of entry-level white-collar jobs over the next several years.
“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” Amodei said in an interview last year.
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services
Amazon cloud chief Matt Garman has taken almost the opposite view, saying that doomsday predictions about AI and jobs are way overblown.
Garman has said that he believes half of white-collar jobs “may change” because of AI, but that doesn’t mean they’ll disappear. He has also called the idea of replacing entry-level staff with AI tools “one of the dumbest things” he’s ever heard.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Platformer podcast, Garman stressed the value of entry-level employees, saying they’re inexpensive to hire, can be taught a company’s culture, and are often eager to learn new tools.
“They’re some of the very best employees you can possibly have,” he said.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, recently said AI has not yet displaced entry-level white-collar workers as quickly as he expected.
“I’m delighted to be wrong about this,” he said at an event hosted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “I thought that there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar work jobs being eliminated by now than it’s actually happened.”
Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer
Even as AI transforms how work gets done, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer, Elizabeth Stone, said junior employees remain essential to the streaming giant’s future.
“We are still hiring junior people, and they’re really important to our talent strategy,” Stone recently said on an episode of “Lenny’s Podcast.”
Younger employees, she said, can be more open-minded, more comfortable with emerging AI technologies, and more attuned to how entertainment is changing.
“I can guarantee you that earlier career talent is going to be teaching older folks like me many new things, too,” Stone said.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis’ advice for young people preparing to enter the workforce is: become an AI “ninja.”
Hassabis has urged teenagers and students to immerse themselves in AI tools, arguing that those who master the technology early will have a leg up as AI disrupts the job market.
“Whatever happens with these AI tools, you’ll be better off understanding how they work, and how they function, and what you can do with them,” Hassabis said last year on an episode of “Hard Fork.”
Garrett Lord, CEO of Handshake
Garrett Lord, the CEO of job search and AI training platform Handshake, said on an episode of “Lenny’s Podcast” last year that new graduates are well equipped to succeed because they’re “AI native.”
Knowing how to use AI is like “having your Iron Man suit on,” Lord said.
“A lot of people are kind of hyperbolic at saying that all young people won’t have jobs,” Lord said, adding, “That’s not what we’re hearing from our employers.”
Sierra cofounder Clay Bavor
Clay Bavor, the cofounder of Sierra, an AI startup that builds customer service agents, has made a similar case, arguing that AI-native graduates are entering the workforce with a built-in advantage.
Speaking on a recent episode of the “20VC” podcast, Bavor said some of the company’s strongest employees are in their early 20s because they’re more adept at using AI than many veteran workers.
“I can’t remember a time when a young person with no work experience, but with the right mindset and experience using some of these tools, has ever been so valued,” Bavor said.
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