Artificial intelligence is ushering in an era of professional disorientation: young people who thought their future career trajectories were set, now realize they need to think again.
With the tech industry promising new jobs that no imagination had entertained before, and others warning of an upcoming massive wave of unemployment, the consequences of AI on the labor market remain, for now, a matter of speculation and research. Nevertheless, AI is already a significant factor that young workers need to take into account.
Some are pivoting toward skilled trades, which the new technology doesn’t seem likely to touch anytime soon. Others aspire to open their own businesses, hoping that will protect them from the fallout. Others still are embracing AI and trying to stay on the cutting edge.
“Students know there will be consequences, but it’s not clear how serious they will be or what they’ll look like,” says Stacy Gleason, a school counselor in New Jersey, speaking to the Wall Street Journal.
Enrollments at colleges emphasizing vocational education have skyrocketed
Jackson Curtis, 28, thought he would build a career as an insurance underwriter, the field he has already been working in for 3.5 years. He now aspires to become a firefighter.
“Even if they find a way to use AI in firefighting, people will always want the care of a real human being who genuinely cares in moments of crisis,” he said.
Uncertainty
In a recent Harvard poll, 59% of Americans aged 18–29, especially college graduates, said they see AI as a threat to their career prospects. And 41% said AI will make their work less meaningful.
Meanwhile, a Stanford study found that from late 2022 to September 2025, employment among 22–25-year-old professionals exposed to AI, such as programmers and customer service workers fell by 16% compared to less-exposed occupations.
The shift toward hands-on trades is evident: Ryder Paridis, 22, dropped out of university in his third year of studying software development, and now wants to become an electrician. “At first I was in denial” about the impact of AI, he said. “But in the end I had to face it.”
Paridis is not alone: enrollments at community colleges emphasizing vocational education have jumped by nearly 20% since 2020, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse.
Career anxiety has taken hold of parents too, who worry about what awaits their children in the future.
“We had a lot of worry at the dinner table,” said Babith Bupalan, who worked at Microsoft before founding his own consulting firm.
61% of respondents aged 18–34 said they have a negative view of AI
To help his 17-year-old daughter, Bupalan created a career guide featuring professions considered resilient to AI. Doctors and diplomats were among the safest, though his daughter chose to study international relations.
As other analyses have also shown, positions requiring face-to-face contact are less likely to be affected. This was confirmed by a recent study from AI company Anthropic, which found that agriculture and construction are safer sectors, in contrast to jobs for programmers or customer service representatives. Microsoft research from last year reached the same conclusions.
In a 2025 survey by the organization Jobs for the Future among 3,020 Americans aged 16 and over, anxiety about worker displacement by AI was widespread.
Among participants aged 16–34, 44% said they are considering a possible career change because of AI. For those aged 55 and over, the figure was just 4%.
Investing in AI
On the other hand, there are those who are betting on AI to augment their professional skillsets. One example is Vidant Vayas, 21, who put his studies at the University of Guelph in Canada on hold to devote himself to an AI company he founded, Opennote. University studies, he said, felt disconnected from the reality of the job market.
The idea seems to be paying off, as the startup has secured $4 million in funding to build an AI tutor.
“I have the opportunity to participate in decisions about what we create, who it will benefit, and what kinds of jobs it creates,” said Vayas.
Most young people, however, do not view AI favorably. In an NBC poll last month, 61% of respondents aged 18–34 said they have a negative opinion of the technology.
Back to the case of Curtis — the young man who decided to become a firefighter — the future looks promising.
His girlfriend, Jewel Rudolph, 25, feels the same way. She feels vindicated in her decision not to go to university as her mother wanted, but instead to open a business selling Brazilian snacks at farmers’ markets.
“That’s where I find security, knowing that AI cannot take what I do,” she said.
