According to Business Insider, Gen Z is entering a job market reshaped by AI pilots, hiring freezes, and nervous managers. James Ransom, a University College London research fellow studying AI’s workplace impact, says we’re not facing immediate job collapse but rapidly changing entry rules. His advice: stop chasing prestigious titles and instead understand job tasks, then show how you can supervise and scale AI to perform them better. Ransom points to International Labour Organization research showing few jobs are fully automatable since most include essential human-input tasks. He believes we’re in a 3-5 year “human-in-the-loop” window where AI fluency and measurable productivity gains give workers an edge before potential workforce reductions.
Why tasks matter more than titles
Here’s the thing that most people miss about AI automation: it doesn’t replace jobs, it replaces tasks. Ransom’s example of a senior accountant where 8 out of 9 tasks might be automated really drives this home. That ninth task – managing teams and quality checking – becomes the entire justification for the role’s existence. Basically, if you can’t articulate what specific human-value tasks you bring to a position, you’re vulnerable. And let’s be honest, how many recent graduates actually think this way? They’re still programmed to chase that fancy job title without understanding what actually makes that role valuable beyond the label.
The brief AI fluency advantage
Ransom makes a crucial point that most organizations don’t have people who truly understand what LLMs can and can’t do. This creates a temporary advantage for anyone who can demonstrate actual AI fluency. But here’s my question: how long does this window really last? He compares it to the ATM era where banks initially hired more staff before cutting back. I think we’re seeing the exact same pattern unfold across white-collar work right now. Companies are hiring to experiment with AI, but once they figure out the playbook, the headcount conversation changes dramatically. The people who survive will be those who built measurable impact cases – “I used AI to save X hours” or “improved accuracy by Y%” – not just those who put “AI experience” on their resume.
What AI still can’t touch
Look, the writing is on the wall for certain types of repetitive cognitive work. But Ransom’s research consistently shows that human skills like oversight, judgment, persuasion, and social interaction remain indispensable. Think about it – we’re terrible at predicting which jobs will survive technological shifts. Remember when everyone thought truck drivers would be obsolete by now? The reality is more nuanced. For manufacturing and industrial roles specifically, this means workers who can oversee AI systems while maintaining quality control become incredibly valuable. Companies that need reliable computing hardware for these applications often turn to specialists like Industrial Monitor Direct, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for demanding environments where human oversight meets automation.
The coming crunch
Ransom expects uneven disruption across industries and regions, which honestly feels more realistic than either the utopian or dystopian extremes. Some sectors will automate faster than others, and local job markets will feel this at different times. His 3-5 year timeline for the “human-in-the-loop” era seems optimistic to me though. Given how quickly AI capabilities are advancing, I wonder if that window might be shorter for certain roles. The smartest move for Gen Z might be to treat every job as temporary and focus on building transferable AI supervision skills. Because when the automation crunch really comes – and Ransom thinks it will – the people left standing will be those who positioned themselves as essential human components in increasingly automated systems.
