TEMPE, Ariz. – Many students at Arizona State University are preparing to graduate and enter the workforce. But with many companies using artifical intelligence, students are beginning to wonder what kinds of jobs will be available.
What we know:
Artificial intelligence is changing the job market. As college students decide on a major, a recent Gallup poll found 48% of Gen Z workers fear the risks of AI outweigh the benefits.
Local perspective:
“Right now, the job market is not good,” a sports journalism student said. “And AI is replacing a lot of jobs and a lot of tasks that are needed in certain jobs.”
Professor Subbarao Kambhampati with ASU’s School of Computing and AI says that worry has caused enrollment in majors to decline.
“There has been a bit of a national trend, including at ASU for computer science, in particular, the computer science enrollments have dipped rather steeply,” Kambhampati said. “It is a reasonable worry for somebody who is starting out to re-evaluate. It’s not as simple as ‘if I learn to code, there will be jobs waiting for me.'”
What they’re saying:
Eric Wilkinson, a kinesiology major, is already feeling the impact as an online fitness coach.
“I think a lot of trainers nowadays are being taken over by AI,” Wilkinson said. “So that just kinda makes it hard for me and other kinesiology majors.”
The other side:
But others like Shona Clark, an occupational therapy student, are leaning into the personal connection required for their field, confident their skills can’t be replicated.
“That just can’t be done by a robot,” Clark said.
What’s next:
While some companies are replacing people with AI, experts say there are already some that have realized it was a mistake, and have backpedaled. The best advice they have is to learn how to use AI in the workplace.
The Source: This information was gathered from a Gallup poll, an ASU professor and ASU students.