Generating entry barriers for entry-level workers: GenAI’s impact on new workers

Our recent publication, ‘Generative AI and the Future of Work in India: Imagining Possible and Desirable Futures’, arrives at this finding based on foresight methodologies and analysis of the future impact of GenAI in the workplace.

The report notes that incorporating these systems at the workplace could potentially increase entry barriers for new and early career workers in the job market. A primary reason for this is the nature of tasks that GenAI systems are currently capable of absorbing and automating – primarily routine, repetitive and simple tasks like drafting emails, note-taking, transcription, minutes of meetings and so on – tasks on which entry-level workers often cut their teeth. These tasks help new workers learn details of and expectations from their jobs and communicate effectively in professional settings. With GenAI taking over these, workplaces may look for higher-skilled workers who can oversee AI systems, impacting the employment opportunities for new workers.

While this is a worrying trend, it needs to be assessed from a few different dimensions.

It is worth asking if this is the kind of work that entry-level workers want to do or should be doing. As PM Modi noted at the AI Action Summit, “History has shown that work does not disappear due to technology. Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created.” The introduction of GenAI systems at workplaces indicates that entry-level workers will need different skills and workplaces need to have better systems to acclimate new workers into professional spaces.

So what do these skilling techniques look like for entry-level workers?

Primarily, these skilling techniques ensure that the state - through educational programs - and the industry take responsibility for preparing workers for the job market. Certain skills can be included as courses at the university level for students looking to enter the job market. Workplaces will need to restructure their trainings for new hires to account for specific AI-related systems. Our report points to the fact that GenAI systems can help workers to upskill themselves and gain deeper knowledge in specific domains. These training curricula and opportunities ensure that entry-level workers do not feel the disparate impact of GenAI tools, while also stepping into the AI economy well-equipped.

Aside from essential and substantive lessons in their domain area, whether engineering, design, or commerce, universities can also focus on providing basics of office etiquette, communication, and domain-specific baseline knowledge. To ensure that universities offer training and skills that enable students to be job-market-ready, it is also useful to collaborate with potential employers in adding essential and desirable skills for future employees to the curriculum.

Employers hiring entry-level workers can ensure that there is scope for continuous improvement and upskilling baked into the roles. Through internal and third-party training on AI tools, employers can mould their new workers to gain the skills they want. This is already happening in various companies, outside and within India, and must be a mainstay for employers when hiring entry-level workers to retain and upskill fresh and young talent. Employers can create dedicated AI adoption strategies for their employees to anticipate and address newer technological changes. These strategies should also consider which tools are most relevant for their employees and their work objectives, not their bottom lines alone.

At the end however, a core change needed urgently with GenAI’s rapid adoption is a shift in the approach to education and training in India – there ought to be a change away from the rote-learning, examination-based mode of training young minds. GenAI, through large language models and large multimodal models, has proven that many routine tasks are amenable to being automated. In such a context, critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills become imperative for students to learn and master. This is also one part of the way forward recommended by our report on the future of work. The government’s role in shoring up labour protections and augmenting its policies on the adoption of digital and AI systems will be another complementary move towards fairer workplaces.