I’m Worried
One of the best parts of writing online is that people have started sharing information with me I would not have known otherwise. Recently, someone told me about a conference that immediately caught my attention. The topic was the intersection of AI and culture, and I signed up right away.
The speaker lineup was truly impressive. This is just a small sample:
Rishad Tobaccowala, author of the upcoming book Rethinking Work, which, as you can imagine, I can’t wait to read.
Katie Drummond, Global Editorial Director at Wired.
Massimo Bottura, one of the most famous chefs in the world. His restaurant, Osteria Francescana, is a three-Michelin-star establishment in Modena, Italy, and has been ranked No.1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list twice.
Trevor Noah, who needs no introduction, wrapped up a fascinating day of presentations.
First, here are seven takeaways that I thought were very interesting:
1. AI Is Not Overhyped—It’s Actually Underhyped
If you think AI is overhyped, you’re missing the full picture. Most people aren’t ready for the scale of change AI is about to bring. The next few years will completely transform business models, consumer interactions, and product development.
AI is doubling its capabilities every six months, and even the companies developing these technologies can’t predict what will happen two years from now. AI will radically transform every industry, and like electricity, it will be foundational to everything we do.
2. AI Agents are Coming. Welcome Your Own Executive Assistant
Imagine having a personal executive assistant available to you 24/7. That’s the promise of AI agents. These AI-driven assistants will handle everything from booking flights to sending emails.
Josh Bersin gives an example of what a Recruiter AI Agent would do:
The Talent Acquisition leader gets a bunch of job requisitions for senior software engineers. She tells the Recruiter AI Agent to start the search. The agent asks the recruiter for location preferences, job level options, pay ranges, and skills – and then goes to work. The agent scans LinkedIn and other sourcing tools, looks into the ATS for existing candidates, and also looks at all the internal staff with qualified skills.
The Agent then starts optimizing this list to create a “short list” for interviews, and goes back to the TA leader for input. After agreeing on location and pay range, the Agent goes back and sends a compelling email to these candidates, along with a link to a video-interview portal that lets them take an interview.
The interview is recorded and the AI Agent uses the interview intelligence tool to assess and filter the candidates, asks them for schedules and sets them up for live interviews. In the process the AI Agent looks at their backgrounds, searches social media, looks at their various connections, and possibly looks up their GitHub and other credentials – then creates a portfolio for each candidate.
3. Medicine Is Becoming More Personalized and Automated
AI’s impact on healthcare was another eye-opener. In the near future, medical treatments will be so personalized they’ll be tailored to your genetic makeup, lifestyle, and unique health data. The time and cost of developing new drugs will decrease dramatically.
However, AI won’t make healthcare less human. It will allow doctors to spend more time focusing on patient care while machines handle the technical, time-consuming tasks behind the scenes.
4. Human Creativity and Connection Will Be More Important Than Ever
Many fear AI will replace human creativity, but the opposite may be true. Creativity and human connection are about to become the most critical skills in the workplace. AI will automate the repetitive, technical aspects of work, leaving us to focus on deeply human tasks like innovation, problem-solving, and building meaningful relationships.
5. “Knowledge will be free and every knowledge workers job will change in 2025.”
This bold prediction came from Rishad Tobaccowala. He further elaborated:
Knowledge when it comes to facts, figures, data and the like will be meaningless since everyone will have the same access to information. If your firm is built on knowledge bases or your position is based on controlling knowledge it is time to re-think the model. The key will be wisdom, nuance, voice, taste as well as perspectives, points of view and plans of action around data, information and knowledge.
6. Skills You Will Need in the Future
Tobaccowala also shared six essential skills for future-proofing your career:
Cognition: Constant learning
Curiosity: Looking forward, not backward
Creativity: Connecting dots in new, unexpected ways
Collaboration: Learning to work alongside both humans and AI
Convincing: Understanding customer needs and differentiating with compelling stories
Communication: Mastering writing and presentation skills
7. The Unexpected Renaissance in Art
There’s been a lot of anxiety about AI potentially replacing artists, but in reality, a new form of art is emerging. At the conference, I saw work by an AI-augmented visual artist that was absolutely incredible. His art would not have been possible without AI.
(click the link to watch the video)
But I’m Worried…
…because no one at the conference addressed the threat AI poses to youth employment.
Before we talk about AI, let’s look at the current stats.
Youth unemployment has risen to 9.7%.
52% of recent four-year college graduates are underemployed a year after graduation. This means they’re working in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. 45% of these graduates remain underemployed a decade later.
In 2024, employers planned to hire 5.8% fewer graduates than the year before.
I’m concerned that AI will only worsen these trends, at least in the near term. As entry-level tasks become automated, young people will struggle to find the foundational roles they need to gain experience and build skills.
edX and Workplace Intelligence surveyed 800 non-executive knowledge workers and
800 C-Suite executives, including over 500 CEOs. Their survey revealed:
56% of entry-level knowledge worker roles will be eliminated within the next 5 years.
85% of executives worry that young workers won’t develop the skills required for their profession because of an over-reliance on AI.
“The displacement of entry-level positions by AI automation poses a significant barrier for young people breaking into their chosen fields. Without access to these foundational roles, it will be increasingly difficult for the next generation to gain the necessary experience and build the skills required to advance in their careers.” - Sarah Hamiliton-Gill, Managing Director at Globus HR Consulting
This is an issue we must address before it becomes a crisis. High youth unemployment could have severe societal repercussions, as we’ve seen in other countries.
I’m deeply passionate about bridging the gap between education and the workforce and making sure that young people have meaningful employment opportunities when they graduate.
This is very worrying stuff, I have also heard anecdotally that companies are hiring fewer juniors, but how do they expect to get trained seniors in the long run if this is true?
Very thought-provoking, Alina. I have the same concern about low lever bookkeeping and accounting jobs. Many of them are barely a level up from data entry.