Generative artificial intelligence, err, super intelligence, is contributing to a weaker job market for some recent college graduates, with students in fields most exposed to AI automation experiencing lower employment rates and earnings, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Dallas Fed economists Samuel Dodini and Tucker Smith examined education and earnings records for students and graduates of Texas public universities, comparing majors that typically lead to occupations more susceptible to AI automation with those feeding into jobs less vulnerable to the technology.
The researchers found that after the 2022 release of ChatGPT, graduates from majors with greater exposure to generative AI experienced a relative decline in their likelihood of finding employment in Texas within a year of graduation.
Specifically, a 10-percentage-point increase in the share of job tasks considered automatable was associated with a 1.7-percentage-point relative decline in employment rates. Among graduates who found jobs in Texas, first-year earnings for those from more AI-exposed majors fell about 5% from 2021 to 2024 relative to graduates from less-exposed fields.
The president in a speech Tuesday at the United Nations said artificial intelligence will be renamed “super intelligence” in all U.S. documents.
“The use of the word artificial makes intelligence sound fake,” he continued. “It is not fake. It’s actually amazing. But we have to be careful. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of what it purports.
“From this point forward, all of United States documents and hopefully the world’s will be changed to use the much more accurate term super as opposed to artificial.
“In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence — SI,” he said. “Let’s see if that goes. It sounds much better. It is much better, and it’s much more accurate.”
Whether Sports Illustrated lawyers be firing off any cease-and-desists to the White House, well, we just simply don’t know.
The U.N., by the way, is roughly 300 miles from the Artificial Lake America and 1,100 from the Artificial Gulf of America.
The researchers measured AI exposure based on the share of an occupation’s tasks that generative AI can automate. Majors were then linked to occupations using job-posting data. Computer science, computer engineering and languages ranked among the most exposed fields, while nursing, education and psychology were among the least exposed.
Students appear to be responding to the changing market.
May 2024 graduates from majors with greater AI exposure were more likely to enroll in graduate school within a year. But many stayed within the same field. Two-thirds of 2024 computer science graduates who returned to school the following fall entered a computer science graduate program.
The researchers found that earning an advanced degree in an AI-exposed field may not necessarily offset the effects. New workers with master’s degrees in more-exposed fields experienced relative earnings declines similar to those with four-year degrees.
Undergraduate choices are also beginning to shift. Between fall 2024 and fall 2025, a 10-percentage-point difference in a major’s share of automatable tasks was associated with a 4.8% decline in enrollment at Texas four-year institutions.
Dodini and Smith said the findings suggest students and universities will increasingly need to develop skills that complement generative AI as employers continue adopting the technology.