‘Better, faster, cheaper:’ How AI is reshaping career paths for new college graduates

David Kim, a UNC-Chapel Hill senior and computer science major, has submitted 326 job applications so far. He’s only reached the interview round for three of them.

Kim said this is normal for computer science majors like himself, who are still applying for jobs with graduation around the corner. He said some of his classmates have applied to around 1,000 jobs and are still waiting to hear back.

Kim said career competitiveness is often attributed to the economy and job market — but also points to a newer wave of technology: artificial intelligence.

AI works to have equal, or even higher, intelligence to humans when solving problems. That kind of advanced technology is financially attractive to businesses, Kim said.

“We’ll see how [companies] try to automate the jobs away,” he said. “I think from an economic standpoint, [AI] is definitely going to take away some jobs. And that’s scary.”

Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, a UNC-CH professor in the School of Information and Library Science, studies the relationship between humans and AI in the workforce. To him, the threat of AI boils down to one concept: self-learning.

“[AI systems] are adaptive in their learning, and that is the source of opportunity and source of threats,” Jarrahi said. “Because if they’re learning really well, what’s going to happen to me? If they’re learning somehow independent of me as a knowledge worker, then what is my contribution?”

Jarrahi said that blue-collar jobs are usually at risk from new technology and automation, but this new wave of AI affects degree-seeking knowledge workers as well — a group that was thought to be immune, Jarrahi said.

“If you’re not worried, you’re probably not paying attention,” Jarrahi said.

Kim said it’s difficult to predict the future, but he knows he will have to find ways to compete in the evolving job market now influenced by AI.

“I think for the industry, [AI] is actually good. But for a graduating senior — or even a junior, a sophomore computer science student now, or even graduating high school students who might want to study computer science —that’s a pretty big worry,” Kim said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t think anyone does. But we’ll have to adapt somehow, like always.”

Undergraduate uncertainty

The fear of AI replacing jobs isn’t just affecting computer science students.

As a UNC-CH sophomore, Sarayu Thondapu has already had multiple conversations about AI’s impact on her future.

Thondapu is currently studying economics and political science on the pre-law track. During her winter break back home in Charlotte, North Carolina, her uncle told her to be wary of AI’s potential impact on legal professions. For example, the AI program LegalGPT can perform similar tasks to legal assistants or paralegals.

Scott Geier, a professor in the Hussman School of Media and Journalism at UNC-CH, said that junior attorneys, for example, are at risk of losing their jobs because AI can complete the same tasks, like reviewing documents and writing briefs.

“Anything that involves analyzing information and doing so quickly and efficiently, AI can already do that better. So it’s going to be better, faster and cheaper,” Geier said. “And if something is better, faster and cheaper, they’re gonna do the robot.”

Now, AI leaves Thondapu questioning her career.

“I wanted to go into law to be someone that can help people, someone that can truly connect with the cases that I’m working with and can be of assistance toward them, and I wouldn’t leave them out to dry,” Thondapu said. “I guess I worry that if I end up relying on ChatGPT or artificial intelligence too much, I kind of forget the reason why I’m there in the first place.”

Halfway through Thondapu’s undergraduate experience, she thinks about her future graduation and often wonders if it will all be worth it.

“We spent four years of our lives at an undergraduate institution. We worked our butts off. We did a lot to get to the places we’re at and we gained a lot of experience,” Thondapu said. “But then to realize that something that we’re responsible for creating might actually end up dashing all our efforts, I definitely think that’s really scary.”

Due to her “survival mentality,” she said she is now incorporating technology classes and a data science credential into her studies to be competitive in the job market and help secure her future.

“I think this is something that we’ve all come to terms with: We need to know something about computers to basically exist in a world like this,” Thondapu said.

However, she said she fears that with too much attention on computers, this generation will forget how to communicate with passion and humanity. As a result, Thondapu added a creative writing minor to her studies to compete with AI.

Kim also considered altering his graduation plans. He said he originally focused on job applications related to software engineering and web development, but after this wave of AI, he became interested in applying to more machine learning roles.

But it’s still a change he said he has to think about, as these roles often require additional schooling, time and money.

AI vs. college degrees

The value of college degrees has always been debated, Jarrahi said. However, higher education’s value in the era of AI adds new twists to the argument.

Google offers career certificates to anyone interested in the technology space, with no prior experience necessary. Their website advertises the programs as a real path to in-demand jobs in under six months.

It costs less than college, takes less time and Google said the program is worth the same as a four-year degree, Geier said.

Some may think, ‘“College costs too much. It’s not worth the sticker price,”’ Geier said. “And people are starting to come to realize that if AI now is part of the equation, that’s just going to accelerate that mindset.”

Duke University now offers a degree program for AI learning: Duke’s AI Master of Engineering program.

Jared Bailey is the current president of Duke’s AI Competition Club and a student in the master’s program, which costs $75,877 in tuition for the typical 12-month duration: two semesters and a summer session.

The program includes other flexible education options like an extended track of 16 months, which costs up to $95,000, and the online program for 24 months, which costs $98,970.

But Bailey believes the program is worth it.

“A smart student investigates to understand if their education will have a fair return on investment,” he said. “I do not see a world where students are unable to find fields to pursue which offer a fair return.”

Duke’s AI program website posted that the degree will provide “great graduate outcomes” in jobs around engineering and data science.

Bailey said AI has the potential to help other industries, not just in science, engineering or technology. He said one classmate in the program is a medical doctor who uses computer vision to identify diseases in high-resolution photos.

Bailey related the advancements of AI to the creation of the camera, the internet and personal computers. He said although they all received initial pushback, it ended up enhancing the work of humanity.

“Duke has largely embraced student use of AI,” Bailey said. “When I was younger, educators pushed back on student use of calculators and the internet. It’s refreshing to see Duke take a different stance and embrace this new technology.”

AI is here to enhance our work and not compete with it, he said.

Embracing AI

Professional editor Erin Servais believes that humans can collaborate with AI, and she’s even incorporated it into her career.

Servais has edited professionally, from line editing to developmental editing, since 2008. Last year, Servais’ career changed when she used ChatGPT to copy edit for the first time.

“I was so shocked by how accurate and fast it was,” Servais said. “And I knew that it was going to have big effects on our profession. I knew that immediately, the very first time I tried it.”

She then created the course “AI for Editors” to prepare and educate editors on how AI programs like ChatGPT are reshaping the profession.

Because ultimately, AI is replacing editors, she said.

“People are losing their jobs to artificial intelligence and in a really just unintelligent way,” Servais said. “It’s not a good thing, and it’s not going to help readers; it’s not going to help the writers; it’s not going to help anyone.”

But if editors learn how to use AI, editing can be more accurate and efficient for organizations, she said. An editor with knowledge of AI may have better job security and value in the workplace, she said.

The next evolution of jobs will revolve around guiding AI programs and checking their work rather than manually making the changes in a document, Servais said. But humanity is still essential, she said.

“We don’t want AI to do our jobs because we still need to double check it and make sure that what it is producing is quality and factual. And humans are needed for that still,” Servais said.

Geier said AI might take on the heavy lifting in most professional spaces, but with human oversight as well. But he said it will be in a gradual way.

He doesn’t think that students graduating now will lose a job because of AI, as long as they prepare. Those who don’t learn about AI, however, will be left behind, he said.

Geier said students need to give themselves “an edge” by working with AI in a way others can’t. And that’s what universities need to be teaching, he said.

“You’ve got to make yourself relevant with using AI in currently what you’re doing,” Geier said. “The way it’s going to be is when you come out of here, the employers are going to ask, ‘Can some rando, some stranger off the street, come in and do the same job that [a student] is doing just by writing a prompt into AI?’ If the answer is yes, you’re out of a job.”