College grads are lab rats in the Great AI Experiment

COMPANIES are eliminating the grunt work that used to train young professionals – and they don’t seem to have a clear plan for what comes next.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is analysing documents, writing briefing notes, creating PowerPoint presentations or handling customer service queries, and – surprise! – now the younger humans who normally do that work are struggling to find jobs. Recently, the chief executive officer of AI firm Anthropic predicted that AI would wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs. The reason is simple. Companies are often advised to treat ChatGPT “like an intern”, and some are doing so at the expense of human interns.

This has thrust college graduates into a painful experiment across multiple industries, but it doesn’t have to be all bad. Employers must take the role of scientists, observing how AI helps and hinders their new recruits, while figuring out new ways to train them. And the young lab rats in this trial must adapt faster than the technology trying to displace them, while jumping into more advanced work.