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Want to kill grunt work with AI? Be careful what you wish for
Doing away with entry-level staff may save costs but it comes with longer-term implications.
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Technology has been streamlining entry-level tasks throughout history.
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Parmy Olson
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Common wisdom about generative artificial intelligence (AI) is that it will displace lots of professional jobs. The more nuanced take: It’ll take lots of entry-level jobs.
I’ve asked several businesses over the past few months how they’re using newfangled generative AI models from the likes of Microsoft, OpenAI and Google, and a common theme is automating grunt work – the kind you’d give to a new recruit, like conducting market research or writing reports. That might make sense on the surface, but as with every technology revolution there will be a price, one that both businesses and graduates will have to pay as AI raises the bar to starting a career.
