As if it weren’t enough that the graduating class of 2025 weathered a pandemic, tariff uncertainty in the job hiring market, decreased loan forgiveness, and an increasingly polarized workforce (bye-bye DEI). University and recent college graduates now face a new obstacle unlike any ever seen before — AI. 

Several reports this week showed an unnerving shift in the latest employment numbers. The unemployment rate for college grads has risen 30 percent since September 2022, compared with about 18 percent for all workers. And LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index, a measure of job and career confidence, reflects a new low, not seen since the early days of the pandemic.

This tranche of graduates is greatly disadvantaged by not having the requisite skills to match the needs of an increasingly AI-dependent labor force. During their four-year academic immersion, most graduates did not have an AI component in their curriculum. They may be the last AI-less class.

Couple this with the fact that AI can now do many of the tasks traditionally reserved for freshly minted graduates. Sure, AI will create new jobs over time, but at the moment, law firms, media outlets, research firms, marketing agencies, financial firms and more are increasingly relying on AIs to do the tasks traditionally assigned to entry-level workers. (AI’s aren’t fetching the coffee just yet, but soon.) Even automated chatbots at retail and digital signage in restaurants are diminishing the call for the age-old entry-level jobs at retail and restaurants. 

It’s not the first time that technology has disrupted the job market. Think of telephone switchboard operators and bank tellers, for example. Over time these employees were reskilled or aged out. But time is the operative word.

A look at reports from the World Economic Forum and this week’s OpEd in the NYT by the chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn echoes my point. What took a team of 10 to accomplish before GenAI will now need just a team of 2 or 3 to accomplish the same task. And the team members deemed least necessary will be the entry-level jobs.

Let’s get prescriptive. If I were a recent graduate walking into an interview today, I would demonstrate self-taught AI skills, be it research, graphics creation, editing or something else. Have your top 10 favorite AIs ready to pull out of your pocket and find a place to list them on your resume (even if it’s a hobby). Find out as much as you can about the company you’re hoping to work for, and imagine where your services could be additive. In other words, think beyond the job description. Think about where your company is headed in the next 5 years and how you can contribute. 

And for employers, give these kids a break. They’re highly educated and highly motivated. They were born at the unfortunate moment when the economy was undergoing massive upheaval. 

Virtual Events Group has built several creator spaces in the last few years including ones at CES, NAB Show and now, IFA. Each buildout is unique to its audience. Each reinforces the power of the Creator Economy as it poises itself to disrupt traditional media, publishing, entertainment, and commerce. 

This week, NBCUniversal is launching four new shows on its Peacock network, all starring social media stars who graduated from its in-house Creator Accelerator Program. The four new shows are the Warehouse Phase, The Kouncil, Older Hotter Wiser, and People Like Me. Shows include a mystery-solving series and a road trip to LA. Peacock is by no means the largest streaming service, but this year it’s staunched its losses and continues to grow. If that’s not enough, watch CreatorTV, available on Plex or Sling, where you can see creator-generated content all the time. Will these Creator Economy bets pay off?

My Stuff is Your Stuff Said Big Tech to Everyone
One day after a report was released that could have prevented AI companies from sucking up copyrighted materials to train their models without the creator’s permission, the chief of the U.S. Copyright Office was fired. On X, Elon Musk posted “Delete all IP law”.

But Big Bird and friends have been asking how to get to Sesame Street ever since PBS gave the rights to HBO/Max and they chose not to renew. Sesame Street was saved this week when Netflix opted to show 90 hours of Sesame Street past episodes, but better yet, create a 56th season. Episodes will also air on PBS and the PBS Kids app the same day. 

The question? Do toddlers today have a different sensibility? I’m looking for a reader who can compare and contrast the sometimes unbearable preciousness of Ms. Rachel with some of the multi-level humor of Sesame Street. To me, Ms. Rachel is innocuous, but Sesame Street was transcendent.