- Chris Hyams, the CEO of Indeed, says AI could make the skills college students learn 'obsolete.'
- Skills in technology and business operations are at highest risk of being exposed to AI, Indeed says.
Getting a bachelor's degree might not be enough to compete with AI in the job market — at least according to Chris Hyams, the CEO of job site Indeed.
In an essay, Hyams shared his top concerns around AI — one of which is how technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT will affect the job market.
He compared the speed at which AI has evolved to the Industrial Revolution, and noted how "waves of technological innovation" have gotten faster over time. The effects of the Industrial Revolution evolved over "many generations," Hyams argued in the essay for Fortune, but he said the rise of the internet turned the travel, retail, and music industries "upside down" in just a decade.
And now, as generative AI tools rapidly advance, Hyams said it could take an even shorter amount of time before AI could do what educated workers can do.
That could spell trouble for college students, he said.
"With AI, it's conceivable that students might now find themselves learning skills in college that are obsolete by the time they graduate," Hyams wrote in the essay.
While the CEO didn't specify which skills AI may wipe out by the time college students get their degrees, a spokesperson from Indeed referred Insider to its new research, which suggests that software development jobs — which the job site says requires skills related to "technology" and "business operations" — are most likely to be exposed to generative AI.
Jobs that require driving skills, like truck and taxi drivers, as well as jobs in the sanitation and beauty industries, are least likely to be exposed to AI, the Indeed research said.
"The higher the likelihood that a job can be done remotely, the greater its potential exposure is to GenAI-driven change," the researchers wrote, referring to generative artificial intelligence.
The CEOs thoughts on AI come as labor experts and white-collar workers alike become increasingly worried that powerful tools like ChatGPT may one day replace jobs. After all, employees across industries have been using ChatGPT to develop code, write real estate listings, and generate lesson plans.
Even so, Hyams doesn't think AI is all doom and gloom for jobseekers. He said that AI can, to some degree, help people land jobs if it's used properly. For instance, Hyams said that Indeed's AI technology, which recommends opportunities to its site visitors, helps people get hired "every three seconds." Insider couldn't independently verify this claim.
But though AI can be helpful, that doesn't mean its potential risks in the job market should be ignored, .he said.
"Despite the staggering innovation all around us, AI is still in its infancy," Hyams wrote. "If we hope to continue to benefit from the promise of AI, we need to focus considerable time and energy on addressing the risks."