AI is wiping out entry-level jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#11

Post by rayiner » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

kuerbel wrote: post #10

"At its core, the goal of education is to prepare individuals for employment and advancement" No. It should help a person develop into a free, thoughtful, well-rounded human being. Training narrowly for current market demands can become obsolete quickly. The question should not be: Should education have economic value? But rather: Should economic value be the highest or only value of education? Of course, engineering…

> a free, thoughtful, well-rounded human being

What do these words even mean, and why should taxpayers pay for that? Is there any institution today that teaches you to be a “well-rounded human being?” Do students graduate being able to hunt for food, grow crops, or build a house?

There might be great value in whatever type of “education” you’re talking about. But “education” as a public, taxpayer supported activity is about the economy.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#12

Post by LurkandComment » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:04 PM UTC

1. AI wipes out entery level jobs. Cost of tokens used will make you spend more especially overtime. Keep in mind, right now we're probably in the era of cheap tokens

2. We rehire base employees at lower wages. Move AI to hire level tasks. AI is now doing the work we said humans will do. Talent drains to other compaines. AI can do certain things every well but can't put it together. Start rehiring talent at lower wages

3. In the end, AI turns out to really be artificial wage competition designed to drive worke salaries down. All of this is subsidized by the government, fund managers and the environment. Billionaires leave earth in spaceship.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#13

Post by LurkandComment » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:05 PM UTC

LurkandComment wrote: post #12

1. AI wipes out entery level jobs. Cost of tokens used will make you spend more especially overtime. Keep in mind, right now we're probably in the era of cheap tokens 2. We rehire base employees at lower wages. Move AI to hire level tasks. AI is now doing the work we said humans will do. Talent drains to other compaines. AI can do certain things every well but can't put it together. Start rehiring talent at lower wag…

PS I love AI, but it's whose hands AI is in that determines its use and benefits.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#14

Post by ge96 » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #7

We've been through this before. The GFC in 2008 wiped out entry-level jobs for millenials who did everything "right" (or, at least, what they were told to do) by going to college and accumulating student debt [1]. Those graduates ended up doing lower-paid and often non-career jobs like service works. The cliche in the early 2010s was college grads being baristas for a reason. Those jobs never came back. And it's esse…

Back to the barter system

It is funny I was a dishwasher for a while $20K income somehow living on that. Then get into tech 5x it and now more poor/in a lot more debt, my own dumb decisions but yeah.

Like the people that win the lottery and end up broke that's me.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#15

Post by fullshark » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #7

We've been through this before. The GFC in 2008 wiped out entry-level jobs for millenials who did everything "right" (or, at least, what they were told to do) by going to college and accumulating student debt [1]. Those graduates ended up doing lower-paid and often non-career jobs like service works. The cliche in the early 2010s was college grads being baristas for a reason. Those jobs never came back. And it's esse…

> if nobody has any money?

This is clearly false, the K shaped economy framing does ring true to me and you are describing the lower half of the K. Those millenials (and younger) with crippling student loans, no savings, and unmarketable skills are a major voting block and will definitely have an impact on policy. The size of the impact will be determined by their level of anger and ability to essentially convince the upper half of the K to go along with wealth transfers (traditionally not easy to do).

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#16

Post by helloplanets » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

erelong wrote: post #5

Perhaps rather it is management that is wiping out those jobs But I could see entry level also becoming "internships" more (aka unpaid jobs)

That's not how the market works. Management can't do anything if another company drives the whole business under. And companies are more often than not insanely pressed for resources. There's just a comfortable buffer to that pressure for a lot of people on a payroll from higher up.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#17

Post by visarga » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

kuerbel wrote: post #10

"At its core, the goal of education is to prepare individuals for employment and advancement" No. It should help a person develop into a free, thoughtful, well-rounded human being. Training narrowly for current market demands can become obsolete quickly. The question should not be: Should education have economic value? But rather: Should economic value be the highest or only value of education? Of course, engineering…

> No. It should help a person develop into a free, thoughtful, well-rounded human being.

That was the goal maybe in the past when only rich people could afford an education.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#18

Post by mothballed » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC

kuerbel wrote: post #10

"At its core, the goal of education is to prepare individuals for employment and advancement" No. It should help a person develop into a free, thoughtful, well-rounded human being. Training narrowly for current market demands can become obsolete quickly. The question should not be: Should education have economic value? But rather: Should economic value be the highest or only value of education? Of course, engineering…

Sounds nice but resources are limited for many people. Getting an employment focused education using their limited resources is the more likely way to put them in stable orbit so that maybe theyll be able to broaden with less employment focused education later.

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#19

Post by sharmston » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC

One week ago, the same publication covered the opposite argument from a16z, stating that "The AI job apocalypse is ‘unhelpful marketing, bad economics and worse history" - it's too early to declare which way this is going. https://fortune.com/2026/05/07/ai-job-apocalypse-unhelpful-m...

Re: AI is wiping out entry-level jobs

#20

Post by zeroonetwothree » Fri, May 15, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

sharmston wrote: post #19

One week ago, the same publication covered the opposite argument from a16z, stating that "The AI job apocalypse is ‘unhelpful marketing, bad economics and worse history" - it's too early to declare which way this is going. https://fortune.com/2026/05/07/ai-job-apocalypse-unhelpful-m...

Whatever gets them clicks