The short answer is no, AI is not taking all the jobs.

This may be surprising, especially if you read the influx of doomsday headlines that have exploded across news stations around the country. Bold proclamations of a generational struggle to enter the job market and disappearance of entry-level jobs have become the new norm as recent college graduates scramble to send out an ever-increasing number of job applications. In a time when economic uncertainty rules the day, it’s not surprising that anecdotal stories of job rejections seem to match larger negative trends in hiring.

It is true that the job market is undergoing seismic shifts. According to a 2025 survey of 84 C-suite executives at major corporations conducted by Spark Admissions, artificial intelligence is eliminating entry-level positions at 52% of companies. The same data shows that “more than half of executives (50%) report AI adoption has reduced entry-level positions at their organizations” while “only 8% saw increases in early-career roles due to AI”. To round out these figures, “42% report no substantial change” in hiring due to the integration of AI.

What often gets lost in studies like this, which Spark Admissions is clear to note, is that “fundamental hiring criteria are shifting in ways few educators or students have fully recognized.” For instance, the same survey data shows that, while 52% of executives noted that entry-level roles have been reduced, 55% reported stable or even increased hiring of recent college graduates compared to 2024.

So, how do we read this data? What type of work is really disappearing, and what will be impossible for AI to replace?

Employees at an entry-level position must now be prepared for more strategic-level thinking, creativity, and a willingness to learn and wear multiple hats in their new roles. Repetitive jobs that require little more than quick research, basic organization, and fact-checking will continue to dissolve, absorbed into other, higher paid positions. Simultaneously, the need for subject matter experts will continue to increase. Those graduates who can analyze and read complex data sets, create new ideas, learn on the fly, and form strong relationships (AKA, the skills you might learn in a humanities department) will continue to find work, as their talents are not easy to replace. In 2025, graduates are being hired for roles that go beyond what would typically be considered entry-level, as companies trust them to hit the ground running and provide creative and strategic value early in their careers.

In fact, a Cornell study conducted from 2015-22 found that, while AI can negatively affect low-skilled roles, generative AI can actually increase work opportunities for strategic and creative advertising and marketing roles, roles that, at their heart, require the kind of human ingenuity that cannot be replicated by AI. While an undeniably powerful tool, AI cannot think for itself. It cannot understand the formation of a relationship with a customer or even produce its own study. It can only copy and reorganize what has already been produced, leading to what many in contemporary culture have begun to call the era of “AI slop”, a flood of vacuous, empty content and faltering CTR for once powerful SEO keywords. In short, AI is still not as powerful as investors had hoped, and consumers long for content created by actual humans. In a fast-changing market, human capital continues to rule the day.

My message to students and graduates: in your applications and interviews, be sure to highlight your irreplaceable skills. The next generation of graduates entering the workforce have a number of tools on their side. Armed with abilities to operate AI and other new technologies, students can choose to focus on what gives them a competitive advantage: creativity, strategic thinking, relationship building, the ability to learn, and other skills-based aspects of self.

While the data can look scary, with every new technology comes new opportunities. It’s your job to position yourself to take advantage of this changing market.

The UB Career Design Center is here to help every step of the way. If you need help with your job or internship search and more, make an appointment with a Career Design Consultant by going into Bullseye powered by Handshake.