Will AI make junior professionals obsolete, or will it create a new kind of professional altogether?

I recently came across a LinkedIn post where someone, reflecting on their experience as an HR professional, suggested that junior developers are—or soon will be—easily replaced by AI. This reminded me of a comment I made a while ago: chatbots often feel like interns. In many ways, they share similarities—they can handle tasks like initial research, proofreading, or drafting plans, often faster than interns, but with a comparable level of mistakes.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: If chatbots take over these repetitive tasks, where does that leave junior professionals? You don’t become a senior expert overnight. Building expertise requires hours of doing these seemingly tedious tasks. They’re essential for learning the trade. Without these opportunities, where will we get the next generation of senior-level experts?

At the same time, I wonder—how important are those tedious tasks in today’s world? Should we artificially sustain them? It’s reminiscent of how people (including myself) often complain about how, decades ago, children roamed freely outdoors, while today their activities are structured, scheduled, and, some might say, overly cautious. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀. Complaining about it doesn’t change the new environment in which families function (with “it takes a village to raise a child” becoming a concept of the past for many).

As with all societal trends, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁—𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. For example, rather than fearing AI’s impact on junior roles, perhaps we should equip interns to leverage AI effectively, using it to enhance their work and deliver value in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Or, dare I say, interns should proactively adopt these tools—not covertly, but openly sharing how AI helps them progress with tasks. Isn’t this a skill we’ll need more of in the future?

Back in the day, research meant spending hours in libraries, poring over books and journals (yes, I’m this old—I found my first jobs through newspaper ads). Now, tools like Google Scholar provide instant access to the latest studies. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. It frees us to focus on more exciting, meaningful tasks—so long as we maintain a critical eye on AI-generated outputs. But really, isn’t this true for any work? Human or machine, mistakes happen. Using our judgment when reviewing outputs is a skill we can’t lose.

So, I’m thinking about how we can adapt instead of clinging to outdated processes and beliefs. (That said, I can’t help but feel like my childhood was more fun and adventurous than my child’s—but that may just be survivorship bias.)