‘The future favours senior leaders who leverage AI to amplify strategic thinking, not those whose value is rooted in analysis alone’
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already making changes to employers’ hiring plans, and one report suggests that may be posing a risk to the future of organisations.
Currently, 1 in 5 companies has already stopped hiring entry-level workers because of AI, and nearly half expect to halt entry-level recruitment entirely within the next two years, Resume.org reports.
The February 2026 survey of 933 US business leaders found that 21 per cent of companies have frozen entry-level hiring due to AI. By the end of 2026, 36 per cent say they will have stopped hiring entry-level workers, and by 2027 nearly half (47 per cent) expect entry-level hiring to be eliminated at their organisation.
For HR leaders, the findings signal a structural threat to traditional early-career pathways — from graduate intakes and internships to entry-level rotational roles — that have long supplied critical future talent.
Gen Z workers are entering the workforce with high ambitions but are facing significant challenges as entry-level job opportunities decline and AI transforms the employment landscape, according to a previous report.
Role cuts
According to Resume.org, 21 per cent of companies say AI is the sole reason they are eliminating roles, 19 per cent say it is the primary driver, and 26 per cent say it is one of several contributing factors.
The survey indicates employers are not only pausing recruitment but also permanently removing junior positions. Twelve per cent of respondents say AI has already eliminated entry-level roles at their organisation, and another 21 per cent expect those roles to disappear before the end of this year. In total, about one-third of companies anticipate that entry-level roles will be eliminated by the end of 2026.
Mid- and senior-level jobs are also being affected, although the changes are unfolding more gradually. Eleven per cent of companies report that AI has already eliminated mid-level roles, and 10 per cent say the same for senior-level positions. By year-end, those figures are expected to rise to 24 per cent for mid-level roles and 26 per cent for senior-level roles.
“AI is increasingly capable of pattern recognition, forecasting, reporting synthesis, compliance monitoring, and even strategic scenario modeling, work traditionally owned by mid and senior leaders,” says Kara Dennison, head of career advising at Resume.org. “Many senior roles exist to interpret data, make recommendations, and allocate resources. AI now accelerates and centralizes those capabilities, reducing the need for layered management. The future favors senior leaders who leverage AI to amplify strategic thinking, not those whose value is rooted in analysis alone.”
Other experts second this thought.
When it comes to eliminating entry-level roles in favour of AI, “the real loss isn’t just a category of jobs. It’s the training layer inside organizations,” says Samantha Walravens, adjunct professor at Lehigh University, in an article posted in Forbes.
“Entry-level work has always done more than produce output; it’s where people learn what ‘good’ looks like in practice: how to spot when something doesn’t add up, how to push back without derailing momentum, and how to understand what their work triggers downstream. Those lessons aren’t taught in a lecture hall. They come from repetition, and from being close enough to real decisions to feel their weight.”
Rather than eliminating entry-level opportunities altogether, “companies could harness AI to train the next generation of senior professionals,” says Till Leopold, head of Work, Wages and Job Creation at the World Economic Forum, in an article posted on the international organisation’s website.
“From law firms saying goodbye to the billable hour to more emphasis on apprenticeships, traditional structures could be redefined.”
Budgets shift to AI talent
Some organisations are already reallocating hiring budgets on the back of AI-driven efficiencies, according to the Resume.org report.
MedMart CEO David Fesman says businesses replacing roles with AI should start with the most repetitive administrative tasks and track time savings over a 90-day period. Using that approach, MedMart was able to eliminate data entry positions with AI.
“That freed up the budget to hire someone more experienced whose judgement we needed more than another data entry position,” Fesman says.
At the same time, companies are increasing hiring in AI-related and AI-enabled roles. Resume.org reports that 47 per cent of companies say they are hiring more technical or AI-focused employees this year, and 48 per cent are hiring more workers who can effectively use AI tools.
AI-linked layoffs and the adaptability imperative
The Resume.org survey also points to a significant wave of AI-related layoffs. More than half (51 per cent) of business leaders say their company will lay off workers in 2026 specifically because AI is consolidating or eliminating roles. Twenty-nine per cent say layoffs linked to AI have already taken place, while 22 per cent say they plan to conduct such layoffs next year.
In guidance to workers, Dennison recommends building AI fluency, quantifying measurable results, strengthening strategic visibility and investing in continuous upskilling, arguing that “the safest position isn’t ‘indispensable,’ it’s adaptable.”
To mitigate risks of over-reliance on AI at the cost of expertise, Dilan Eren, professor of strategy at Ivey Business School, recommends a dual development approach, emphasizing that to be effective it must be accompanied by an intentional culture of collaboration.
“We need to make sure that juniors actually still develop expertise, but also seniors develop AI skills,” she says.
“We are not enemies. We are not replacing one another – seniors, juniors. We are actually here to find a new way to work together collaboratively, and make sure that we are learning from each other.”
