AI fears push Twin Cities students to rethink career paths
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Gabrielle spent her first year at a Twin Cities community college as an English major, figuring her passion for proofreading friends' papers would translate well to an editing career.
While she "absolutely loved" the subject, a hard-to-shake concern had her questioning her choice.
- "I was terrified that I'd either never find a job or lose my job due to AI," she tells Axios.
The big picture: Gabrielle, who asked Axios to use only her first name due to privacy concerns, isn't alone.
- Nearly half of college students say they've thought at least a fair amount about changing their major or studies because of AI's potential impact, according to recent polling from Lumina Foundation and Gallup.
Driving the fears: College graduates are entering a tumultuous job market that's been rocked by a massive tech evolution, reshaping career prospects for entry-level workers. Concerns about the economy add to the stress.
- "The future feels uncertain, and a lot of these students, there is a lot of anxiousness moving forward," Marcos Cruz, associate director of career advising at Macalester College, tells Axios.
Zoom in: For Gabrielle, now 20, a top priority was landing a stable job in a high-demand industry.
- So she started exploring health care and soon pivoted to a pre-major track for dental hygiene.
What she's saying: "I can't quite imagine robots taking over this job," she says. "Maybe they could. But personally, I wouldn't want a giant clunky robot cleaning my teeth."
Between the lines: Some career advisers caution students against making drastic changes out of fear of the future.
- Cruz says he reminds nervous students that many liberal arts majors are designed to help them develop critical thinking, teamwork and professionalism.
In other words, human skills that could be more valuable than ever to employers as robots take on more routine tasks.
Plus: Cruz likes to remind students that your major doesn't necessarily dictate your career, citing an example of a doctor who studied music as an undergrad.
Yes, but: Thoughtful exploration, he said, can be a good thing. And for Gabrielle, the contemplation made way to a new passion.
- She discovered she also has a love of science, and plans to apply for a full dental hygienist program at the end of the year.
Zoom in: What colleges are doing
Some colleges are increasingly looking for ways to address student concerns about the future — and prepare them to live and work in an AI-assisted world — through their coursework.
Case in point: The University of Minnesota's computer science department is launching two new classes related to AI next fall, professor Loren Terveen tells Axios.
- One, titled "Thinking With Machines," is open to any student across the university, no prerequisite required.
The goal, Terveen says, is to give students "fundamental computer skills" and an understanding of how to deploy current AI tools so they "will be in a great position" for jobs of the future.
The intrigue: Computer science major enrollment is down at the U, mirroring a national trend.
- But the U's career placement data shows that demand for grads remains high — a trend Terveen expects to grow as more companies realize they need people who can help them make the most of the technology.
The catch: Instead of joining tech companies that have been rocked by layoffs, more students are landing at financial firms, e-commerce companies and startups.
- "They're still getting hired, but it's much more diverse where they're getting hired," he says.
What's next: The U is developing an AI minor that marries computational classes with electives on issues ranging from environmental and ethical issues to the use of the technology in specific scientific disciplines.
Axios' Avery Lotz contributed to this report.