The ‘Class of AI’ Enters the Workforce

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Journal — “The ‘Class of AI’ Enters the Workforce”
Air date: May 29, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Knudsen and Allison Poli

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Overview

This episode explores how the “Class of 2026”—the first cohort to experience AI tools like ChatGPT throughout their entire college career—is reacting to the new realities of AI’s role in education and the job market. Through interviews with students, recent graduates, and workplace reporters, hosts Ryan Knudsen and Allison Poli examine the fears, hopes, and evolving norms as this generation transitions into an AI-dominated workforce.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tension at Graduation: Students Booing AI References

• College graduation speeches across the US (Florida, Tennessee, Arizona) are being met with boos when speakers present AI as the future.
• Quote [00:23], Ryan Knudsen: “A lot of commencement speakers are getting booed when they bring up AI... This reaction is happening all over the place.”
• Insight: There is a palpable anxiety among graduates who view AI as a threat to job security and career prospects.

2. Mixed Emotions About AI Among Students

• Students and recent grads express a spectrum of feelings from wariness to optimism.
• Quote [02:18], Emma: “I am both nervous and optimistic about AI.”
• Concern: Entry-level jobs may disappear, potentially locking people out of the job market.
• Quote [02:51], Emma: “AI is going to lock a lot of people out of entry-level jobs.”
• Benefits: AI is valuable for learning, but also observed to make frequent mistakes.
• Quote [03:03], unnamed medical student: “Easy AI access has been amazing for education. It has also opened my eyes to how incorrect it can be.”

3. Campus Responses: Banning vs. Embracing AI

• At first, colleges tried to ban AI, equating its use to plagiarism and cheating.
• Students, however, continued using AI for research, outlines, and even complex subjects like calculus.
• Quote [07:51], Allison Poli: “Oh, I’m taking a really hard calculus class. Well, let me just see what the answer is, and then I’ll figure out how to solve it later.”
• Pressure to perform and get internships heightened temptation to use AI for assignments.

Timestamp Highlights:

• [05:20-06:47]: Early student experiences and faculty clampdowns on AI.
• [07:31-08:50]: Students circumvent bans, using AI for research and outlines.

4. The Shift: Colleges Move from Policing to Teaching AI

• Some professors incorporate AI openly in the curriculum, requiring students to submit AI chat logs and reflect on their prompt strategies.
• Quote [10:08], Emma (describing an effective professor): “She requires you to submit all of your chat logs with your assignments... pushing conversations to be about, what is the tool? How are you using it?”
• This approach teaches students both practical skills and critical thinking about AI’s limitations.

5. Whiplash: Contradictory Expectations from Academia vs. Industry

• Students face a dramatic pivot: once told not to use AI, they are now expected by employers to be fluent in it.
• Quote [11:08], Ryan Knudsen: “It feels like such whiplash... you need to use it as much as possible.”
• Employers expect new hires to already be familiar with various AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini).

6. Job Market Anxieties and Opportunities

• Some students leverage AI for job applications: refining resumes, drafting cover letters, prepping for interviews.
• AI-familiarity is becoming a requirement in job postings across industries (not just tech and finance, but also design, marketing, and HR).
• Quote [16:48], Allison Poli: "AI fluency is mentioned in a lot of these entry-level job postings... It's a given now."
• Market conditions are tough: unemployment for young grads is at a decade high, with increased competition for junior roles.
• Quote [18:01], Allison Poli: “[Students] have submitted tons of applications, haven’t been able to find a job and are really struggling.”

7. Some Companies Hire for AI Skills Specifically

• Certain firms double down on entry-level hires because of their AI skills—expecting them to “teach” the rest of the workforce.
• Quote [18:40], Allison Poli: “They also want these people to come in and teach everyone else... the best ways to use AI.”

8. Comparing AI Disruption to Past Crises

• While not as severe as the 2008 financial crisis or COVID-19 in terms of raw unemployment, anxiety remains high due to uncertainties.
• Quote [19:39], Allison Poli: “Data-wise, it’s not as severe... Anxiety-wise, it’s pretty tough.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI Anxiety:
  • [11:49], Emma: “I think everybody is just kind of feeling pretty scared and uncertain. For example, my mom loves to send me, like, scare email messages... I’m like, mom, I’m already scared. I don’t need to hear it from you.”
• On Learning to Adapt:
  • [14:56], Emma: “People have been telling us since it’s come out, AI is going to replace you, it’s going to replace your job, your function, your utility. And that is a terrifying thing to hear.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:05–01:10: Graduation season and AI as a divisive topic
• 02:02–03:14: College students' emotional responses to AI
• 05:20–06:47: How students first engaged with ChatGPT; initial college responses
• 07:31–08:50: Students adapting to AI, despite official bans
• 10:08–10:42: Professors begin teaching "AI as a tool" in the classroom
• 11:08–11:49: Employers expect AI proficiency as a baseline skill
• 13:35–14:56: Young workers’ optimism vs. fear about embracing AI and being replaced
• 16:23–18:32: AI as a hiring criterion; student struggles in the job market
• 18:32–19:18: Companies recruiting entry-level workers for their AI skills
• 19:18–20:14: Comparing AI’s disruption to past economic crises

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Tone & Closing

The conversation remains candid and sympathetic to students’ anxieties but ultimately pragmatic: adapting to AI is no longer optional. The episode ends on a somewhat humorous note, referencing comedian Ronny Chang’s satirical Harvard speech:

• [20:14], Ronny Chang (comedian): “I’m here to tell you, the mission of your generation is to destroy AI.”

The takeaway: While employers, educators, and students grapple with uncertainty, adaptability and AI fluency are emerging as defining traits for the next generation of workers.

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Transcript

[Ryan Knudsen]

A funny thing has been happening at college graduations this spring.

[Allison Poli]

The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.

[Ryan Knudsen]

What happened? Okay, I struck a chord. May I finish? A lot of commencement speakers are getting booed when they bring up AI. This time it was the architects of artificial intelligence. Interesting. This reaction is happening all over the place, from Florida to Tennessee to Arizona. Why are all these college students booing commencement speakers when they bring up AI?

[Allison Poli]

Well, you're expecting people to have a positive reaction to something that's an existential threat, kind of to their careers.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Our colleague Allison Poli covers the workplace.

[Allison Poli]

You have a commencement speaker and you're waiting for them to say something inspiring and then they tell you that AI is the future and it's this inevitable thing that you need to accept and it's going to radically change the world. Well, that message isn't really going over with a bunch of people who have been told that AI is going to take away entry level jobs and going to change their entire future. They have no clue how it's going to shape their careers because employers themselves don't even know how AI is going to shape their workforces. And for people who are just getting in at the bottom level, yes, that can be an opportunity. But it can also be really anxiety inducing too.

[Emma]

Hi, my name is Bella. I'm going into my junior year of college. I'm studying economics with a minor in journalism.

[Ryan Knudsen]

We asked college students and recent graduates, beyond the booing, how are they really feeling about AI? And we got a lot of responses.

[Emma]

I am both nervous and optimistic about AI.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Hey, journal team. My name is Ilan Rosenbaum. Hi, this is Michael. I'm a recent grad.

[Allison Poli]

I am a first year medical student at the University of Arizona.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I graduated from Cornell University one year ago and personally I'm very excited about the possibilities and capabilities of AI in my own career. I have some complicated feelings on the subject. My name is Ben Cole. I'm a recent grad from NC State. Overall, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about AI and feel confident heading of the workforce full time.

[Emma]

AI is going to lock a lot of people out of entry level jobs, which might mean locking a lot of people out of the job market entirely. Being a medical student in this age

[Allison Poli]

of easy AI access has been amazing for education. It has also opened my eyes to how incorrect it can be.

[Ryan Knudsen]

It's important to understand how to use AI to your advantage and get the most out of it. Do I remain a little scared? I think that's on everyone's mind. There's still so much uncertainty. And that is what's somewhat terrifying. Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Ryan knudsen. It's Friday, May 29th. Coming up on the show, the class of 2026 confronts their AI future foreign. Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts.

[Allison Poli]

Why did I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that.

[Ryan Knudsen]

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[Allison Poli]

And so people start experimenting with it. They're like, what is this? You know, what can it do? Some students I talked to were using it to do some last minute study prep. Others were just playing around with it, looking for recommendations for books and movies. Nothing related to finals, they said. And pretty quickly, college administrators realized, okay, this is a really powerful chatbot or research tool that can provide answers very

[Ryan Knudsen]

quickly and that can write essays, and

[Allison Poli]

that can write essays. And so colleges pretty quickly put into their syllabi, you cannot use ChatGPT. This is plagiarism. This is cheating. Don't use it.

[Ryan Knudsen]

One of our colleagues spoke to a student named Emma. Emma studied finance and marketing, and she was pretty skeptical of AI when it first started rolling out her freshman year.

[Emma]

I honestly feel like I was pretty disillusioned for a while, I think, like, I was not very quick on the uptick.

[Allison Poli]

So Emma is a student at the University of Vermont, and when ChatGPT first came out, you know, she really avoided it. She did not want to use it. Some of her peers were using it for assignments. She was like, this feels like cheating.

[Emma]

Most professors either wouldn't say anything or they would say like, no, AI, don't use it for Assignments. There's a lot. We'll be using lockdown browsers or whatever for all exams. So it's just like, was not something that was part of the curriculum at all colleges.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And even a lot of students like Emma worried that using AI would make them dumber because they wouldn't have to think for themselves anymore.

[Allison Poli]

I don't want to outsource my critical thinking, which is something that we hear from a lot of different students, that they're worried about what using AI will do to their ability to really retain information.

[Ryan Knudsen]

So how successful were colleges at getting students not to use AI?

[Allison Poli]

Broadly, of course, it varies by the individual, but they didn't listen, you know, and they were still using it. They're like, okay, well, maybe I won't use it to write my paper, but I'll use it to do all the research, and then I'll write it, or

[Ryan Knudsen]

I'll use it to outline what the paper should say, and then I'll write each paragraph myself.

[Allison Poli]

Exactly. Oh, I'm taking a really hard calculus class. Well, let me just see what the answer is, and then I'll figure out how to solve it later. You know, that type of thing.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I mean, I can imagine. Just to say, like, it's just. It's so tempting. When you're in college, you're so busy, you've got so many things going on. It's hard to sit there and spend an hour or hours trying to solve a problem or write an essay when, like, there's just this button you can press that will do it instantly for you.

[Emma]

Right.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And you just take it. Takes so much will to resist it.

[Allison Poli]

Yeah. And in the backdrop, there's all this pressure to get an internship, to start working your way toward eventually being able to get a job. And when you're applying for internships, people look at grades, and so if there's something that can help you achieve a better grade or get that outcome, yeah, it is really tempting.

[Ryan Knudsen]

It didn't take long for colleges to realize that trying to fight AI was like trying to fight gravity. Students were going to use it, and colleges needed to adapt.

[Allison Poli]

There are professors who are saying, yes, you can use this, but within reason and with limits. And so they're changing their coursework, and they have started encouraging students to experiment with AI and really learn how to use the tool in class as part of class assignments.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Emma, the University of Vermont student, said she first started using AI when her professors started asking her to.

[Emma]

I don't remember, like, actually using ChatGPT or any kind of LLM until probably my junior year. That's when I think it started to show up in class syllabi. And I was like, okay, like, maybe I'm kind of interested in checking it out. Like, I don't want to be missing out on the opportunity. So I think I first started using it kind of in a class context. And then since then, especially this past year, I've had professors who are either more forward about how they use AI or they want to, like, stimulate conversation about it in class.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Emma says that one of her professors incorporated AI in class in a way that she found really effective.

[Emma]

She knows that everybody's using it, so she requires you to submit all of your chat logs with your assignments, and then she prints them out and literally underlines them and analyzes them and makes comments on, like, what kind of questions you asked, what kind of responses did you get? She was always pushing conversations to be more so about, like, what is the tool? How are you using it? How are you pushing back against it when it gives you whatever response you're looking for? How can you find queries that are actually going to help you get the job done without erasing the thinking and the learning portion of it?

[Ryan Knudsen]

While colleges have been more cautious about AI businesses, AKA these students, future employers are going full throttle.

[Allison Poli]

Employers are saying, you know, when students get to us, we want them to be familiar with the technology, but it's up to the college to teach them how to use it. And so if you're a young person entering the workforce, you need to show you can use AI.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Well, it feels like such whiplash for these college students who, like, not that long ago were sort of told, like, don't touch AI. It is bad, it is cheating, it is wrong. And then they're immediately going to this workforce that's like, you need to do this. You need to use it as much as possible. It's the future and it is everything.

[Allison Poli]

Yes, exactly. And so where do you fit into that as a person, as a future employee, when you're entering your first job too? It's really overwhelming.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Emma, now a college graduate, says she's come around to some of the benefits of AI. And even though she has a job lined up, the stress of what it could mean for her career is still very real.

[Emma]

I think everybody is just kind of feeling pretty scared and uncertain. For example, my mom loves to send me, like, scare email messages and articles that she's finding that's like, everybody's jobs will be wiped out. I think her point is to motivate me to use it more so I can avoid getting my job eaten up. But I'm like mom, I'm already scared. I don't need to hear it from you.

[Ryan Knudsen]

With love so what does an AI future look like at work for the class of 2026? That's next.

[Allison Poli]

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[Ryan Knudsen]

As college students and recent grads turn their focus to the job market. Some are at least a little bit excited.

[Allison Poli]

As a recent college graduate, I think AI is something people need to embrace rather than avoid. I use AI in my everyday life and I genuinely believe it's meant to make our lives easier when it's used in the right way.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I use AI nearly every day in my life, whether it's to bounce ideas out, learn, write code, or to talk through a decision. With that being said, I'm very optimistic about AI, but with a degree of caution. I think it is an incredible tool that makes it so I can get certain tasks done a lot faster. Overall, I think AI is creating many, many job opportunities for young people who are willing to learn these new skills that are not very well mapped out yet. Others are more wary. To be brief, the thought of AI scares me quite a bit. I see ChatGPT doing all these things that I've been learning to do and it does it so easily and it appears that it does it so much better than I ever could. Being early in my career, there's a very real fear of being replaced by the technology that I'm being told to embrace. If new methods of attaining artificial general intelligence are successful, I'm just going to hope that they come after I get tenure.

[Emma]

I think a lot of us are going into the into the workforce and seeing AI as just this looming threat. I mean, people have been telling us since it's come out, AI is going to replace you, it's going to replace your job, it's going to replace your function, your utility. And that is a terrifying thing to hear.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And some of the college graduates we heard from said they're using AI to try to get jobs. Now, AI really was helpful in the job application process. So I would run a lot of my application answers through ChatGPT. It helped me through best practices of how to write a cover letter. I ran my resume through there and it helped me cut things down. What feels redundant, what's professional, what's helpful, what's necessary. I think a lot of my interviews when I was job hunting, where, how have you used AI? How do you plan to use AI? And I think that's something that's exciting because a lot of these companies don't have people that have any AI experience. Our colleague Alison says the confusion grads are feeling makes sense because right now a lot of companies don't even know what they want from AI.

[Allison Poli]

Employers themselves don't even know how AI is going to shape their workforces. They're still trying to figure out what positions they need, who they should hire for, what those people should be doing. There's going to be a great reshuffling of the workforce in terms of the way that companies think about their workers.

[Ryan Knudsen]

So once these students go on the market for these entry level jobs, can you talk about what they're seeing?

[Allison Poli]

Overwhelmingly, AI fluency is mentioned in a lot of these entry level job postings. Or they'll mention familiarity with ChatGPT, with Claude, with Gemini. It's one of the ideal requirements. They're assuming that students are coming in, having used these tools before. They're not thinking that, oh, somebody's going to come in and never have typed something into AI before, have experimented with it before, that's a given for them now.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And are they seeing it across the board in all industries?

[Allison Poli]

In many industries, yes. In finance, of course, in tech, but even in graphic design. And that feeds into the sense of inevitability of, oh, you know, all of these companies are saying that they need to do this.

[Ryan Knudsen]

The data on the job market for recent college graduates is mixed. Employer surveys show that some companies do expect to hire fewer junior workers because of AI. And in March, unemployment for college graduates 22 to 27 years old rose to one of the highest levels in over a decade.

[Allison Poli]

I talk to a lot of students who have submitted tons of applications, haven't been able to find a job and are really struggling. And these are students who studied everything from marketing or human resources to even accounting. And especially because in this job market with tons of layoffs, you have more qualified people who are willing to take a pay cut to keep working and work an entry level job.

[Ryan Knudsen]

But there are some companies that say they're doubling down on hiring more entry level workers specifically because of their ability to use AI.

[Allison Poli]

They also want these people to come in and teach everyone else who already works there the best ways to use AI. So in that way it's putting more pressure maybe on these entry level roles where people are coming in with more responsibility and less of a sense of the company thinking they need to pay their dues before they start contributing.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Interesting. So they're actually thinking that these recent graduates are going to have more skills in AI. And so therefore there's like a reason to actually over index in that category.

[Allison Poli]

Exactly.

[Ryan Knudsen]

So there have been a lot of disruptive times to graduate from college, you know, after the 2008 financial crisis. Covid, obviously how do you think this moment of this kind of AI revolution that we're in compares?

[Allison Poli]

If you look at the data, the unemployment is not as high as it was at those times.

[Ryan Knudsen]

So.

[Allison Poli]

But that doesn't mean this isn't hard and it doesn't mean this isn't full of anxiety for a lot of people who when companies don't even really know what they want from workers. If you're just entering the workforce, how do you pitch yourself to a company when you're just trying to get your first job and make your way in? So data wise, it's not as severe in terms of finding a job. I think anxiety wise, it's pretty tough.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I should say not all speeches to graduates have been lauding the revolutionary power of AI. I'm here to tell you the mission of your generation is to destroy AI. On Wednesday, as part of Harvard University's graduation ceremonies, comedian Ronny Chang gave a different take. Can I just say AI, AI, AI. I'm so glad you agree. I prepared a completely different speech in case you guys turned on me, but I won't be needing that anymore. That's all for today. Friday, May 29th. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Roshan Fernandez. And a big thank you to all of our listeners who sent in their thoughts about AI. Congrats on graduating and good luck out there. The show's made by Evelyn Fajardo Alvarez, Laura Benshoff, Kathryn Brewer, Pia Gadkari, Max Green, Sophie Codner, Matt Kwong, Colin McNulty, Jessica Mendoza, Laura Morris, Enrique Perez de la Rosa, Sarah Platt, Allen Rodriguez Espinosa, Heather Rogers Pierce Zingy, Jeevika Verma, Kathryn Whelan, Tatiana Zamis and me, Ryan Knudsen. Our engineers are Griffin Tanner, Nathan Singapak and Peter Leonard. Our theme music is by so Wiley. Additional music this week from Katherine Anderson, Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, Nathan Singapak, Griffin Tanner and Durat sessions. Fact checking this week by Mary Mathis and Najwa Jamal. Thanks for listening. See you Monday.