Artificial intelligence (AI) is eroding the very capabilities young professionals need to remain valuable in a machine-automated era. That is the real challenge facing graduates entering the workforce. It is not simply a case of AI destroying jobs – though it is – but that it is undermining our cognitive and interpersonal skills.
Hiring managers make decisions based on economics, not social good. They need to be convinced that a young human worker is a better investment than a machine. Many employers are reluctant to bet on people with no practical experience and no domain knowledge.
Management may prefer to upskill experienced staff to use AI to do more of what they already do. A perceived preference for job-hopping among younger workers only compounds the disincentive. This conforms to our experience as a small company paying high Hong Kong rents.
The “productive struggle” of thinking through hard problems, failing, retrying and eventually making breakthroughs has always been at the core of genuine learning. That this struggle is increasingly bypassed is what keeps educators and developmental psychologists awake at night. It’s also what troubles managers when junior staff expect work to be easy. The friction of navigating daily life, of developing street smarts, is being removed for AI natives.
