The earliest effects of artificial intelligence on work are landing not in mass layoffs but at the job entry point where young people learn how to work. That shift creates a governing problem that no one in state or local government clearly owns.
Responsibility for helping students move from school to a first job is spread across high schools, colleges, local workforce boards, apprenticeship offices and state labor agencies. When everyone owns a problem in part, no one owns it at all.
The evidence is hard to ignore. In September, the Census Bureau found that since ChatGPT arrived, graduates of the most AI-exposed college majors, led by computer science, were less likely to find a job right after graduation. Those who did earned about 13 percent less than graduates in less-exposed fields — comparable to graduating into a severe recession — and more of them started in retail and restaurants. For graduates in moderately exposed fields, first jobs came later but mostly caught up.
