Is AI Starting Its Career by Replacing Gen Z Tech Workers?

AI has officially gone from writing bad poems and finishing your half-baked emails to stealing jobs from Gen Z. Yep, Joseph Briggs, a top economist at Goldman Sachs, says the robots aren’t waiting until retirement age; they're starting their careers by pushing 20-somethings out of theirs. Imagine walking into your first day at Google only to find ChatGPT already sitting at your desk, sipping your iced latte, and asking if you know how to fix its bugs.

You might be thinking, “Okay, but isn’t this just corporate spin? Another round of tech layoffs wrapped in shiny AI buzzwords?” Nope, the numbers back it up. Since early 2025, unemployment for tech workers in their 20s has jumped 3 percentage points, and job postings for junior roles are down 35% since 2023. Microsoft, Meta, and Google are leading the charge, letting AI do routine tasks once handled by junior staff, the kind of jobs where you basically get paid to Google things and panic in Slack threads. These roles were supposed to be the training wheels of tech. Now? The bike comes with an autopilot button and no seat for you.

Joseph Briggs is basically playing career counselor for an entire generation, waving a giant neon sign that says: “Don’t count on the old playbook.” His point is that young people can’t assume the classic path of college, entry-level job, then promotions. Companies are automating that first step out of existence, so workers need to learn new ways to get experience, bootcamps, certifications, side hustles, you name it. Businesses, meanwhile, need to ask themselves a scary question: if nobody’s starting at the bottom, where are tomorrow’s managers going to come from? Spoiler alert: ChatGPT isn’t going to run your team standup. (At least not yet.)

And before you tune out thinking this only matters if you’re Gen Z and powered entirely by iced coffee and anxiety, think again. If you’re a CEO, your talent pipeline is looking more like a talent puddle. If you’re a manager, say goodbye to handing off grunt work; you’ll be doing it yourself while mid-levels drown. If you’re an individual contributor, you should be asking, “What part of my job could AI take next?” And if you’re just an everyday American, this is still your problem. When your kid graduates with a $100,000 degree and can’t even get an entry-level role because the entry level has been deleted, guess who they’re moving back in with? (Hint: it’s you, and they’ll eat all your snacks.)

AI isn’t just taking jobs. It’s erasing the very first step in a career ladder that millions of people have climbed before. Without that first rung, nobody gets to climb except maybe the robots, who apparently don’t need health insurance, weekends off, or a fridge full of LaCroix.

Do you see this hitting your team, your company, your co-worker, or even your kid? Share your thoughts because whether you’re leading a Fortune 500 or just trying to keep your pantry stocked, this shift is closer to home than it looks.

- Matt Masinga