- AI has replaced entry-level work, so graduates are being hired to manage AI
- Goldman worries about its impacts on existing middle managers
- “We don’t quite know what’s going to happen to that group”
Goldman Sachs exec Kevin Sneader has shared how he believes AI could change jobs in banking, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that junior workers will be at a loss for jobs
Instead, Sneader believes that new employees will take on management responsibility immediately, rather than waiting years for promotions.
Previously, young workers would have spent the first few years performing administrative work before progressing into management positions, but rather than progressing into managing humans, junior workers will now start off managing AI.
Junior bankers set to manage AI from day one
With agentic AI now capable of carrying out the routine, administrative tasks that junior workers used to do, entry-level roles will no longer be available. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for new graduates – it just means that they’ll need to oversee the AI doing those jobs.
“When our young folks now start work, they’re managing agents,” he said. “They have to make the most of this virtual army that they’ve now got.”
However, there is potentially one group of workers at risk from AI’s impacts, and it could be middle management. In short, graduates being employed to manage AI could threaten the job security of middle managers, who would previously have looked after those graduates.
“We don’t quite know what’s going to happen to that group,” Sneader added.
More broadly, it could mean that AI challenges the pyramid-like ladder that sectors like banking have previously worked to. If businesses no longer need large numbers of entry-level workers thanks to AI, it means they need fewer middle managers and fewer leaders, which could indeed have adverse impacts on jobs – just not for graduates.
The takeaway from this particular message isn’t one of graduate unemployment, but rather a broader shift away from traditional working patterns and how it could impact the more experienced workers.
