The first job is changing
If routine tasks are automated, how does a beginner gain the experience that experts are expected to have?
Many careers begin with work that looks modest: preparing a first draft, checking a spreadsheet, answering common questions, or assembling background research. These tasks do not merely produce output. They also expose beginners to the patterns from which judgment grows.
A modest first task can be a way to learn how good work looks. Removing the task without replacing that learning may leave a beginner productive on paper and underprepared in practice.
Generative AI can assist with parts of that work. The ILO's task-based research cautions against treating exposure as a simple prediction that an entire occupation will disappear. Jobs contain different activities, and adoption depends on organisational, economic, and human choices. Still, changing the tasks can change the apprenticeship.
A graduate who is asked only to approve machine output may appear productive without learning why an answer is good. Conversely, a beginner who compares their own attempt with an assisted version may learn faster. The difference is not the presence of the tool. It is the structure of the learning.
The better question is how assistance changes apprenticeship. Feedback, comparison, and supervised judgment can help a learner grow, whereas repeated approval of machine output may hide what has not been understood.
Employers should protect practice, feedback, and access to experienced colleagues. Students can ask what a role teaches, not only what it pays. Career advice should include portfolios of reasoning: how a person spotted an error, handled ambiguity, or improved a process.
The first job should not become a test of expertise that no first job is willing to develop. If we automate the bottom rung, we need to build another way onto the ladder. That is an institutional responsibility, not a motivational slogan for anxious graduates.
Further reading
A graduate who is asked only to approve machine output may appear productive without learning why an answer is good.
If routine first tasks disappear, where will beginners get the practice that their future expertise is supposed to come from?