Are recent high school graduates worried about entering the workforce in the age of Artificial Intelligence?

Are recent high school graduates worried about entering the workforce in the age of Artificial Intelligence?

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SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Graduating from high school is already stressful, but imagine planning a future in a world with artificial intelligence.

At Harding High School's graduation ceremony at Roy Wilkins Auditorium Monday night, we asked seniors about their plans for the future.

Kou Thao says he originally wanted to pursue a career in computer science, but after researching artificial intelligence (AI), he switched to civil engineering.

"The thing I came up with was civil engineering because it was like the most AI-non-replaceable because it's hands-on,” Thao said.

He wasn't the only senior that changed their plans because of AI.

Sahra Mohamed says her first plan was to major in data analytics. She changed her major to public health because she said she is worried about how AI could affect jobs that focus on analytics.

"I think choosing public health as my major is going to help me more and offer me more stability because it has less of a risk,” Mohamed said.

And then there's Yunus Bai, who actually used AI to plan his career.

"When AI first came out, I actually used AI to see, like, what jobs can they take over and which jobs pay the most,” Bai laughed.

AI told Bai one of the safest jobs was mechanical engineer, so that's what he's going with.

"If you're an engineer, you get to design, you get to build and AI can't do that,” Bai explained.

These are the types of conversations students at Harding High School are having with teachers and counselors.

Jamie Shady is the college and career counselor at Harding High School. He says students are both scared and excited about AI, and his best advice is to pursue a variety of skills because we don't know where AI will be in a few years.

"Even if it does take some things away, how are they going to pivot? And then go to the next thing they may need to learn,” Shady said.

He sees AI the same way many people viewed the internet back in the 90s; it’s an innovation that will affect a lot of jobs and industries, but if students are willing to evolve, they should be OK.

“We always tell our students just make the decisions with the information you have right now. There’s always going to be unknowns in the world.”