A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AI expert has warned that replacing entry-level jobs with the technology could be a long-term strategic blunder. Research scientist Andrew McAfee, who co-leads MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, said cutting off jobs for Gen Z workers may not only shrink the workforce but also disrupt the pipeline that may produce leaders capable of taking the economy forward.
“How else are people going to learn to do the job except via on-the-job learning and training apprenticeship?” McAfee was quoted as saying by Harvard Business Review.
“That’s how you learn to do difficult knowledge work is by helping somebody who’s good at that with the routine stuff. And when we put too much automation in that too quickly, we lose that apprenticeship ladder.”
McAfee said companies were also losing a key competitive advantage by not hiring Gen Z workers, who are comfortable and know how to work effectively with AI.
“There is a big demographic falloff. As people tend to get older, we tend to be more set in our ways and less willing to try crazy new things like AI,” said McAfee.
“So if you’re pulling back on your entry-level hiring, you are probably sacrificing future opportunities to learn and the skilled people of the future. You’re also turning off the spigot of the most enthusiastic power users of AI in your organisation.”
Future Of Jobs
McAfee’s statement comes at a time when AI industry leaders have repeatedly warned about the end of entry-level white-collar jobs. Last year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed that AI could wipe out half of the entry-level jobs within the next five years. Amodei said repetitive-but-variable tasks in law firms, consulting, administration, and finance could be eliminated soon, with CEOs looking to use AI to cut costs.
“Specifically, if we look at jobs like entry-level white, you know, I think of people who work at law firms, like first-year associates, there’s a lot of document review. It’s very repetitive, but every example is different. That’s something that AI is quite good at,” Amodei said.
Geoffrey Hinton, regarded by many as the ‘godfather of AI’, has also stated that the rise of technology will make companies more profitable than ever, but it may come at the cost of workers losing their jobs, with unemployment expected to rise to catastrophic levels.