The first generation to grow up with the internet wants everyone to just hold their horses. Gen Zers, keenly aware of how quickly tech’s latest innovations can grow out of control, feel some anxiety when it comes to AI.
A staggering 62% of them believe that AI could replace their jobs within the next decade, according to recent surveys of 1,180 employed adults in the U.S. and 393 executives in the U.K. conducted by General Assembly, a technology education provider.
It turns out that while the younger and more vulnerable generations are shaking in their boots, most CEOs are not batting an eye. Just 6% of directors and VP-level executives believe that AI poses a threat to their job, according to the survey results.
Gen Z AI anxiety meets CEO serenity
Junior workers are likely feeling more threatened than executives because they have less leverage and no seat at the table, including when it comes to layoffs and how AI affects their companies in general. This past year many CEOs have proven more than willing to use AI as a scapegoat for trimming headcounts. From May last year to this February, more than 4,600 job cuts were made in the U.S. in the name of AI, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, though the outplacement firm’s senior vice president tells Bloomberg that that’s “certainly undercounting.”
Gen Zers might also be more anxious given how early on they are in their career. The generally remedial nature of many junior jobs makes this generation more vulnerable to change, according to Lupe Colangelo, director of alumni engagement and employer partnerships at General Assembly.
“AI is able to perform many of the repetitive, low-level tasks that were typically handled by entry-level workers,” she wrote in a statement to Fortune. “Understandably, younger generations are anxious about this. Seasoned executives and managers, on the other hand, bring years of experience and context to the table that AI can’t quite replicate—at least not yet.”
Nvidia’s billionaire CEO Jensen Huang echoed as much. When asked at Nvidia’s October AI Summit if he thought AI could replace his job, he said “absolutely not.” Suggesting that AI can do 20% to 50% of one’s job, he suggested that “the person who uses AI to automate that 20% is going to take your job.”
Explaining that Gen Zers bring “a unique perspective to the workplace that shouldn’t be discounted,” Colangelo added that employers are complaining about this generation’s lack of soft skills surrounding communication and time management. These soft skills become even more important as AI automates more independent work, she added.
The younger generations tend to be the most concerned about the potentiality of AI stepping on their toes. Half of millennials think there’s at least some chance AI could replace their role, compared to 44% of Gen Xers and just 24% of baby boomers, according to data sent to Fortune.
Even if boomers aren’t worried for themselves, they have a responsibility to lend a hand to the future, believes Colangelo. “With AI taking on more entry-level work, employers have a greater responsibility to train the next generation,” she said. “Companies need to offer them a way through the door.”
“Employers simply can’t walk away from an entire generation,” she added, arguing that they need to help build the skills that they desire in the current talent pool.
