MIT AI expert cautions that automating Gen Z entry – level jobs may backfire and cause companies to lose their future workforce

(SeaPRwire) –   Businesses that choose to automate entry-level roles instead of hiring Gen Z talent may be making a significant long-term error.

This warning comes from MIT research scientist Andrew McAfee, co-leader of the school’s Initiative on the Digital Economy. He argues that eliminating entry-level positions doesn’t just shrink the current workforce—it disrupts the pipeline for future leaders.

“How else are people going to learn to do the job except via on-the-job learning and training apprenticeship?” McAfee told Harvard Business Review last month. “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.”

The risks go beyond training gaps. By reducing entry-level hiring, companies also risk losing a major competitive advantage: Gen Z’s natural proficiency with AI.

A Deloitte study found that roughly 76% of Gen Z use standalone AI tools, the highest rate of any generation. McAfee suggests this familiarity makes them uniquely valuable as companies race to integrate AI into their operations.

“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,” added McAfee, who is also the cofounder of the AI ROI startup Workhelix.

He warned that pulling back on entry-level recruitment sacrifices future talent and shuts off the supply of the most enthusiastic AI power users within an organization.

contacted McAfee for additional remarks.

Gen Z faces a difficult job market and growing pessimism

For many young people, McAfee’s concerns are already becoming a reality as the job market tightens.

According to Handshake’s Class of 2026 report, entry-level job postings are down 2% year-over-year and 12% below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the New York Fed reports that the unemployment rate for college graduates aged 22 to 27 is 5.6%.

As graduation season approaches, anxiety is rising. Monster reports that nearly 90% of the class of 2026 are concerned that AI or automation could replace entry-level roles, a sharp increase from 64% in 2025.

Some business leaders have amplified these fears. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has suggested that AI could eliminate up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.

This trend is particularly striking because entry-level roles are often the most affordable talent, yet McAfee argues that cutting them risks undermining both cost efficiency and long-term workforce development.

However, historical data suggests young workers may be more resilient than expected. A recent Goldman Sachs analysis found that college-educated young workers typically experience smaller earnings losses after job displacement and are more likely to move into roles that complement new technologies.

The report noted that younger workers have historically been able to adjust more flexibly through skill upgrading and occupational mobility.

Some tech firms are increasing their investment in early-career talent

Not every company is pulling back. Some major employers are leaning into entry-level hiring, betting that early-career workers will be essential to building and scaling AI.

IBM, for example, announced it would triple its entry-level hiring to build more durable skills and create greater long-term value.

“People are talking about either layoffs or freezing hiring, but I actually want to say that we are the opposite,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in October. “I expect we are probably going to hire more people out of college over the next 12 months than we have in the past few years.”

Recently, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced his company is hiring 1,000 new graduates and interns to help build its AI systems.

“You are right they said AI would kill entry-level jobs,” he wrote on X. “Meanwhile these grads and interns are building it—powering Agentforce and Headless360 at Salesforce.”

Even Amazon—which has faced scrutiny for recent layoffs—is maintaining its pipeline of young talent.

The tech giant plans to hire 11,000 software engineering interns in 2026, consistent with previous years, according to Business Insider.

“I can tell you we are hiring just as many software developers as we ever had inside of Amazon,” AWS CEO Matt Garman said. “And in fact, I see the demand for that really accelerating.”