Looking for your first job is difficult at the best of times — but what if your competition was a computer? Because according to research by job search website Adzuna, the number of available entry-level jobs in the UK has dropped as AI takes over some work.
Since ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, the number of entry-level jobs in the UK — including graduate roles, apprenticeships, internships and positions you don’t need a degree for — has decreased by 32%. Just 25% of jobs advertised in the UK are entry-level now, down from nearly 29% in 2022.
Another jobs website, Indeed, recently said that British university graduates are facing the toughest job market since 2018. It found that the number of jobs for recent graduates has fallen by 33% compared with June 2024 — similar to Adzuna’s results for all entry-level jobs.
Businesses are increasingly using AI to get work done efficiently while reducing their staff numbers and costs, and this includes large international companies.
Duolingo, the education app best known for its short language lessons, stopped working with around 10% of its contracted translators in 2024 as the company started using more AI for translations. It said it was becoming an “AI-first” organization.
Reactions to Duolingo’s decision were quite negative, however. Its CEO, Luis von Ahn, later had to make it clear that the company did not plan on replacing all of its workers with AI, and said instead that it saw the technology as a tool to get more done.
Swedish payment company Klarna also got backlash after replacing 700 workers with AI. It’s now hiring new human employees after getting complaints about the poor quality of customer service the AI was offering.
So while AI may be taking away some human jobs, it seems some humans are taking those jobs right back!
