As the first cohort to enter the workforce with AI tools at the ready, many Gen Zers are torn.
Some 68% of these young professionals are anxious about AI automation, while 58% use AI tools at least three to four times a week, according to new research from think tank Oliver Wyman Forum. Nearly half of Gen Zers also say AI has already changed the caliber or type of work expected from them.
The findings, released earlier this week, are based on survey responses from 300,000 consumers and workers collected over the past five years, including 45,000 adult members of Gen Z. The most recent survey was taken last year.
Today’s youngest workers are leaning into AI more so than their older counterparts, who are less anxious about the technology and use it less often, the study shows.
Compared with boomers, for example, Gen Zers are 1.7 times more likely to participate in AI training and 2.3 times more likely to report a productivity increase from using AI at work.
AI doomsdayers versus optimists
Young workers have good reason to be on high alert. At the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, the CEOs of Google DeepMind and Anthropic each said they’re starting to see AI minimize the need for some junior roles at their companies.
Anthropic’s chief, Dario Amodei, also said at the conference that he hasn’t changed his prediction from May, when he warned that AI could erase half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years.
Meanwhile, economist Marc Sumerlin said in November that companies may pause hiring young workers as they await the benefits of AI, and that ultimately the technology could lead to fewer jobs for recent graduates. Already, some companies have cited AI directly or indirectly as a reason for layoffs.
The grim outlook comes as the unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the US remained elevated at 5.3% in the third quarter, according to the latest analysis from the New York Federal Reserve.
Some corporate leaders are more optimistic about AI’s impact on Gen Zers’ careers.
Earlier this month, Figma CEO Dylan Field said on the podcast “In Good Company” that AI skills give young professionals a hiring advantage and that the technology won’t wipe out entry-level jobs.
Similarly, Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist who cofounded LinkedIn, said in a video posted to his YouTube channel in June that young people should use their familiarity with AI as a selling point when seeking work.
Skipping the grunt work
Some Gen Z workers say AI is helping them advance faster in their careers than they likely would have otherwise.
Lindsay Grippo, 28, credits the technology for helping her practice big-picture strategic thinking when drafting newsletters, blog posts, and other copy for her editor role at Codeword, a New York-based digital marketing agency. She views the AI’s output as if it’s from a more junior creative.
“I’m assessing how well it meets a project’s goals, similar to how my manager might review my work,” she said. “It is training me to think like a more senior-level creative.”
Kyle Monson, a founding partner at Codeword, said the agency hasn’t changed its hiring plans in response to AI, and that young employees like Grippo seem to be among the most proficient users of the technology.
A 46-year-old Gen Xer, Monson sees AI fluency as an advantage for young workers that makes him jealous. When he started his career, he said he had to do a lot of grunt work, such as data entry and note-taking, before he could advance.
AI can now do those kinds of tasks, allowing junior talent to tackle higher-value assignments, which he described as those that require making judgment calls.
“That’s when your career really starts to take off,” said Monson.
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