The career ladder may be changing from the bottom up. Former President Barack Obama says AI has rapidly shifted from relying mostly on human-provided answers to learning roughly half on its own — and he warns that if that trend continues, AI could reshape professions from law and accounting to software development.
The biggest disruption may not be replacing experienced professionals overnight. It could be eliminating the junior jobs that have traditionally been the entry point.
Law-firm associates, accountants, analysts and other highly educated workers often begin their careers doing research, drafting, document review and routine analysis — precisely the kinds of tasks increasingly handled by AI.
The question isn't whether AI can do the work. It's whether there will still be enough entry-level work left for humans to learn how to do it.