What does Gen Z really think about AI? Boooooo!

by • AI, Comment, SF

I regularly meet with CEOs and Board members and the conversation always comes around to the same topic: how can we attract new talent? C-Suite upwards are borderline-obsessed by how to recruit and retain younger employees, eager to harness their energy, enthusiasm and the total lack of work-life boundaries that will come with experience. When keynote speakers were tasked with motivating graduating students during commencement speeches this year, they naturally looked at what was ‘in vogue’ and landed upon AI. This is hardly surprising. We cannot contact, purchase from or seek assistance from an organisation, without butting up against an AI agent, eagerly waiting to ‘help’. We are constantly being told that AI is the unavoidable future and so, for Gen X/ Boomer speakers seeking to connect with Gen Z and garner their approval, AI was a natural talking point. Except, it wasn’t. In a beautiful act of rebellion, Gen Z have taken a different path and have made their feelings about AI known. Loudly.

Several eminent speakers including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Gloria Caulfield, Vice President of strategic alliances for Tavistock Development Company, were loudly booed when suggesting that AI was the future during their inspirational speeches. They appeared bewildered by the students’ reaction, with Caulfield turning to the panel behind her and asking ‘what happened?’

Here’s what no one is telling these speakers. Whilst they see profit and commercial gain within AI capabilities, designed to make their rich corporations even richer, today’s graduating students look at AI and see…nothing. No entry level jobs, no place for them in the workforce, no initial foot in the door or even the ladder, let alone the first rung. In a week where Bill Winters announced making nearly 8000 employees redundant, dismissing them as ‘low value human labour’ which would be replaced by “innovative AI”, you can see why those looking at the job market today are disheartened. More than disheartened. They’re angry.

Degrees are hard. Anyone who tells you that University is all about drinking and partying, probably isn’t using their degree today (assuming they attained one in the first place). Gen Z are facing high barriers to entry into the world that, those adopting AI so willingly, take for granted. With student fees higher than ever and the opportunity to buy a house lower than ever, this generation are facing the prospect of competing for entry level jobs, not being valued by organisations and with a constant threat of replacement by AI hanging over their heads (all whilst stuck living with their parents, assuming they have that option).  So no, Gen Z are not cheering for AI. They are booing it. Loudly. They do not see it as the next industrial revolution, but a destruction of everything they hoped to gain once they had formally completed their education.

This generation are not luddites. They recognise the importance and impact of staying up to date with AI and adopt the technology at a faster rate than any other generation, with research showing that 80% of them are using AI tools day-to-day. However, this doesn’t mean they’re happy about the wider impact. AI is more likely to generate anxiety than excitement in Gen Z and it’s not entirely selfish. Never have younger generations been more aware of climate change, and the disastrous impact that AI is wreaking on the planet is one of many issues that Gen Z has with the current rapid AI adoption. Like many of us, Gen Z can see the potential of AI but worry that the longer-term impacts are not being thoughtfully considered. They see instead a race amongst businesses to own the shiny new toy and prove they are ‘thought leaders’ in the next industrial revolution, with no actual thinking in evidence. If someone was selling me this at my graduation, I think I’d boo loudly too.

So where does this leave us? What of my C-Suite colleagues who are desperate to engage with new talent? My advice would be; listen. Gen Z are not hiding their feelings about AI, they are literally shouting them in public. Pay attention. We need to understand concerns, be transparent and stop referring to actual human colleagues as “low value labour” or resource. We are all so keen to anthropomorphise AI to make it engaging, but we are dehumanising actual humans, all to avoid facing the consequences of AI adoption. I saw a headline recently that stated ‘AI isn’t stealing your job, your boss is.’ This rings true for those who see their roles being so easily replaced by a system that is yet to prove its worth. So, take a breath. You want to engage with Gen Z? Be a support, not a threat, to their future. You’ll be rewarded with an abundance of new talent and skill…and you won’t get booed.

Main image: Abraham Mignon – Still-Life with Fruits