Graduates are managing AI – but are they learning much else?

Some employers are creating graduate roles centered on building, managing and applying AI rather than carrying out conventional junior work. At London PR agency Fight or Flight, Lotte Underwood oversees about 30 AI agents used for research, client reports, interview preparation and image generation, while checking their outputs and tracking how AI tools describe clients. Engineering software firm Stride has made Dillan Patel an AI automation analyst, developing internal agents and identifying tasks for automation. Consultant Cian Clinton says using AI daily has let him take on responsibilities that might once have taken years to reach. Employers argue such roles can give graduates greater influence and help them contribute earlier. PwC research on 2.4 million US entry-level jobs found that AI-exposed roles increasingly demand traditionally senior skills, such as strategic decision-making and leadership.

The concern is that graduates may gain technical experience without learning the underlying profession. Underwood still wants opportunities to practise traditional PR, including pitching to journalists. Portman Finance Group takes the opposite approach: its graduate programme rotates trainees through four areas so they learn financial products, credit writing, customer relationships and transaction management. PwC’s UK technology chief says basic AI literacy will be expected in every graduate job, but AI skills alone will not sustain a career without knowledge of an industry and its clients. The central tension is whether AI can accelerate graduates’ development or whether replacing routine entry-level work removes the practical training needed to build sound professional judgment. Some graduates see AI as a route to faster progression; others may need more deliberate opportunities to learn their trade.