Artificial intelligence now does more of the grunt work that traditionally helped new high school and college graduates develop expertise as they enter the workforce.
The first-draft memo, the not-well-developed recommendation, and the research summary no one expected to be perfect were never only about the product. These entry-level work experiences were part of an informal apprenticeship system in which new workers learned judgment and practical know-how by doing imperfect work, having it corrected, and doing it better the next time.
The decline of these early learning opportunities creates what Deloitte, the professional services network, calls an experience gap for young people. A Harvard Business Review article by Matt Sigelman, Joseph Fuller, and Michael Fenlon makes a related point by arguing that traditional job learning curves are being redrawn. The open question is who fills the experience gap when software handles tasks that used to build expertise, especially how schools and colleges should respond.
