The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has delivered a stark warning: artificial intelligence systems are no longer just automating routine tasks—they’re now operating at the level of highly skilled PhD researchers. And entry-level corporate jobs may be the next domino to fall.
As generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini continue to evolve at increasingly rapid rates, Altman says the systems are already capable of doing “PhD-level work in many areas.” That poses a direct challenge not just to administrative staff or junior marketers, but to lawyers, financial analysts, and coders who until recently felt safe behind degrees and professional titles.
“We’re not talking about the future,” Altman said. “We’re talking about right now.”
A quiet shake-up in white-collar work
Across industries, companies are responding. Financial firms are rethinking analyst intakes. Tech giants, including Amazon and Anthropic, are cutting back on entry-level hiring altogether. Internal departments once reliant on teams of junior staff are beginning to rely on large language models to generate reports, draft emails, and even code.
“In the same way AI disrupted creative jobs first—like design and copywriting—it’s now coming for the early-career jobs in strategy, research, and operations,” said Sarah Kwon, a workplace technology researcher at Stanford. “We’re watching a slow-motion collapse of the corporate career ladder.”
Should workers be worried?
The question now facing millions of workers—especially young people—is this: should I be worried?
The answer is complicated.
For those in roles that are task-heavy, repetitive, or follow clear decision trees, the writing may be on the wall. Junior legal assistants, data entry clerks, and even early-career marketers and financial analysts are seeing parts of their workflows outsourced to algorithms. A recent Goldman Sachs report estimates 300 million jobs globally could be “exposed” to automation.
But “exposure” is not the same as elimination. And, as Kwon explains, “AI doesn’t fully replace roles—it fragments them. Some parts get automated, others become more valuable.”
The resilience of human-first jobs
What’s becoming increasingly clear is that not all work is equally vulnerable.
Trades, care work, education, healthcare, civil engineering, and any job requiring physical presence, emotional intelligence, or complex social nuance remain, for now, relatively protected. AI may be able to simulate insight, but it cannot fix a boiler, counsel a grieving patient, or teach a fidgety six-year-old.
Ironically, while much of the focus has been on white-collar “knowledge work,” it may be blue-collar and human-first jobs that offer more stability in the age of machines.
A new kind of graduate career?
Graduates, particularly Gen Z, are entering a labour market where the “first rung” on the career ladder is crumbling. Joanna Stern, a recent commencement speaker and senior tech journalist, told students at Union College: “You are the first class to graduate into a world where AI is your colleague, not your future.”
That reality is reshaping what early-career success looks like.
Rather than replacing humans outright, companies are now looking for employees who can work with AI—who can audit, supervise, prompt, and creatively direct it. These so-called “hybrid” roles demand a mix of technical literacy and soft skills: communication, ethics, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence.
“We’re not training for jobs—we’re training for collaboration,” said Alex Chen, an AI policy advisor in London. “Your co-worker might be a model with 170 billion parameters.”
Adapting, not surrendering
There’s no denying the pace and depth of the change. But panic isn’t the answer—adaptation is.
Workers can take tangible steps to future-proof their careers:
- Learn AI literacy: Understanding how these tools work is quickly becoming as fundamental as knowing how to use a spreadsheet.
- Focus on human strengths: Emotional intelligence, creativity, leadership, and critical thinking remain irreplaceable.
- Build hybrid portfolios: Combine traditional subject-matter knowledge with an ability to guide or shape AI outputs.
- Stay curious: The future belongs to lifelong learners, not static résumés.
A reshaped future, not a jobless one
Ultimately, while the rhetoric around AI often veers toward apocalyptic, the reality may be more complex. The rise of AI will likely force a reconfiguration of work—not its eradication. Tasks will shift. Some jobs will disappear. But others will emerge.
The challenge for society—and policymakers—is to ensure that workers aren’t left behind in the transition.
As Altman himself has put it: “This is going to be one of the most important transitions in human history. It’s on us to make sure it goes well.”
Related reading:
Reid Hoffman says Gen Z graduates are ‘enormously attractive’ to employers – Business Insider
Will AI wipe out the first rung of the career ladder? – The Guardian
Tech’s broken career ladder – Business Insider
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