Artificial intelligence, or AI, is increasingly undercutting job opportunities for younger, less-experienced workers in roles such as software development and customer support, a new study out of Stanford University reveals.
Employment among workers aged 22 to 25 in these AI-impacted fields has dropped by 13 percent since late 2022, according to data drawn from records from Automatic Data Processing (ADP), the largest payroll processing firm in the United States.
This significant drop underscores the challenges faced by new graduates entering the tech industry.
In contrast, as per the Stanford study, older and more seasoned professionals haven’t seen a comparable decline in employment within the same sectors.
Employment trends also strengthened for lower-tech jobs, such as nursing aides.
In fact, AI is reportedly creating more opportunities for experienced workers while making it harder for newcomers to gain a foothold, deepening workforce disparities.
Furthermore, the impact extends beyond tech.
There is growing concern that AI will erode entry-level positions across various white-collar sectors, including customer service, law, and consulting, potentially transforming the job market in fundamental ways.
The Stanford study, coauthored by economist Erik Brynjolfsson and researchers at Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab, adds to a growing body of research examining how the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping the job market.
The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022 sparked both excitement and concern around generative AI, as users began leveraging chatbots for tasks ranging from software development to casual mental health support.
Since then, OpenAI and other companies have continued rolling out increasingly advanced AI models to meet the surge in demand.
The Stanford findings align with broader reporting on the shrinking entry-level job market.
A report from SignalFire, a data-driven VC firm that tracks job movements of over 600 million employees and 80 million companies on LinkedIn, highlighted that tech companies, especially the top 15 Big Tech businesses, reduced their hiring of new graduates by 25 percent in 2024 compared to 2023.
This trend suggests a shift towards hiring more experienced professionals, potentially sidelining fresh graduates.
Similarly, the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 indicated that 40% of employers expect to reduce their workforce where AI can automate tasks.
The Atlantic reported stagnating computer science enrollments, just a 0.2 percent increase in 2024, and warned that generative AI tools are replacing junior coders in many high-profile companies, potentially threatening half of all entry-level tech positions in the coming years.
As AI becomes more capable of handling routine coding and support tasks, it’s not only changing how work gets done, but who gets to do it in the first place.
