Registered Career Development Professional, Chris Webb, reflects on what it means for young people to prepare for a world of work where Generative AI technology is changing the landscape so rapidly, and the steps individuals can take right now to better understand how GenAI could augment their future career pathways. Since the public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, it feels as though wherever you move in the online space, there is a blog, comment thread or thought piece on the subject of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and how it is potentially going to impact the world of work, and society in general. And if you thought the hype around GenAI might be dying down after its breakout year in 2023, think again – in the first few months of 2024 alone, there has been a glut of massive AI stories in the news, from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s proposed $7 trillion (yes, TRILLION) funding round for AI microchip production, to current chipmaker Nvidia’s frankly outrageous recent profit increases, and the already staggering ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ analysis and text-to-video generation capabilities of Google Gemini 1.5 (which is also making the news for some of the wrong reasons…) and OpenAI’s Sora (see video below for an example of the mind-blowing potential of this technology): Given the dizzying speed of developments in the GenAI space and the speculative nature of reports that attempt to predict the impact of the technology on job creation and displacement, it is hardly surprising that there are varying levels of comfort amongst young people when it comes to using AI tools – as this recent report from Handshake, entitled Early Talent Career Influences in the AI Age (which draws on research from Savanta undertaken between October and November 2023, encompassing 2066 responses from students and graduates aged 18-28, based in the UK) notes, although 29% of respondents reflected that they were already using AI for a variety of purposes (including for research assistance, generating ideas and preparing for job interviews), many individuals were worried about the impact that GenAI could have on their careers (54%) and there is evidence of hesitation in terms of both use of AI technology and disclosing the use of these tools with educational establishments and employers. What the report reflects most clearly is that there is a widespread understanding amongst respondents that GenAI technology is certainly going to have an impact on their professional lives, even if they are not 100% sure what this might look like in practice (and really, do any of us?!) With reports like the Unit for Future Skills ‘The impact of AI on UK jobs and training’ challenging us to consider exactly how ‘exposed’ some jobs might be to GenAI technology in comparison to others, it raises the important question of how we encourage and support students and young professionals to consider their future career development in the context of rapid technological change. As a careers professional, this is a question I discuss regularly with students, graduates, colleagues, employers and other stakeholders, and while the suggestions below for how young people can reflect meaningfully on how GenAI may impact their careers certainly reference AI technology, in this instance the words are 100% human-generated (for transparency!): Don’t (just) Believe the Hype We live in an era of ‘clickbait’ headlines and sadly, some of the news and content regarding GenAI that can be found via mainstream and social media can often be characterised as such, with Elon Musk’s prediction that AI technology could mean ‘the end of work’ for most people just one high-profile example. As with the widely critiqued estimate from a 2017 Dell / Institute for the Future report that ‘85% of the jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet’, while there is plenty of speculation around GenAI, in terms of how many jobs it will potentially create or take away, at present a lo...

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