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High school students are about to enter a very different job market than previous generations.
Technology and economics experts largely agree that AI is poised to disrupt many jobs and could even eliminate some. And entry-level positions will likely be at the forefront of this change. Although employment remains fairly high across all groups, it has recently seen a decline among 20- to 24-year-olds.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei estimated that AI could eliminate up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next few years, although others in the tech industry expect less extreme changes. Finding a job in computer science – a field that until recently seemed like a golden ticket to a stable, well-paying career – has already become much more competitive as AI takes on more of that work, reducing the number of job opportunities.
Meanwhile, high schools are scrambling to determine how to teach AI to students and whether children should be allowed to use it for their studies. Students use it whether they like it or not; a 2024 Pew Research Center study found that half of U.S. teens reported using ChatGPT for homework.
All of this is changing the way some young people plan their college and careers. Some choose to go into practical fields like healthcare that seem safer, while others learn how to apply AI to their desired role.
CNN spoke with three current high school students to find out how AI will impact their plans.
Ask those who work in the tech industry and they’ll likely tell you that learning how to use AI is the best way for a high school student to prepare for a successful, lasting career.
“AI might not take your job, but someone with AI skills might,” said Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
LinkedIn data indicates that 70% of the skills used in today’s workforce will be “completely changed” by 2030, said Stallbaumer, who also leads Microsoft’s Future of Work team. She encourages students to use AI creatively, even if teachers don’t incorporate it into their lesson plans.
“Are you using AI to experiment? To create an app? Are you even using it as a study aid?” she said.
Some students are now hedging their bets by majoring in humanities and STEM-related fields, such as psychology and data science, said Rachel Blankstein, co-founder of NextGen Advising, which consults with students and early-career professionals on how to navigate a changing job market. This is in case one field of study ends up being more heavily impacted by AI than the other.
Regardless of field, a growing number of job descriptions now ask for skills or proficiency in AI, Blankstein said. These days, a college degree often isn’t enough to guarantee a quick job offer, she said: Students need to think early about how to learn professional skills outside of the classroom.
“These poor kids who worked so hard to get into college, all of a sudden they really need to start thinking about their career from day one,” Blankstein said, adding that “the vast majority (of job preparation) has nothing to do with their course of study.”
If a student wants to go into finance, for example, they should make sure they have a solid grasp of financial instruments and markets by their first year of college, even if they still take mostly required general education courses, she said.
It is these skills, rather than focus on a specific field, that are likely to define young people’s future careers, a study suggests. study of labor market demand by the Wharton Business School and Accenture at the University of Pennsylvania.
“The findings reinforce the value of viewing a career as a portfolio of skills rather than a sequence of job titles,” the report said. According to the report, specific or technical skills, such as analytical ability or context-based decision-making, are in higher demand than vague capabilities like “communication” or “leadership.”
Although uncertainty remains about how the job market will evolve thanks to AI, it appears that young people will have to evolve along with it.
“How do we build our character, our tenacity, our curiosity and our empathy to succeed and adapt in a world where AI is destined to develop? » » said Karissa. “I think that’s the issue we should focus on.”