Graduate jobseekers navigate AI effect on gender equality

As this year’s graduates prepare to enter the workforce, many are either anxious or flat out terrified about the impact of artificial intelligence — particularly large language models such as ChatGPT — on their careers.

According to a poll by the BestColleges website, six in ten US college students worry that the use of AI in their studies is diminishing the value of earning a degree. Even worse, more than half expect that growing use of AI in the workplace will further devalue the worth of their studies to potential employers.

Fears are particularly rampant that women, who are under-represented in computing and science degrees, will get shut out of the job market. Right now, corporate technology departments are mostly male. Does that mean the gender balance will tilt in other jobs, as AI spreads into marketing and core business functions?

Those concerns are valid if employers, and the hiring algorithms that help sort through CVs, become convinced that technical degrees are required to work with AI tools. Programs such as ChatGPT can make it much easier to work with data and do simple programming because they provide a more intuitive interface. That means students wanting to go into specialised IT or data science jobs will probably need to take more advanced courses to show they have skills in those fields, rather than taking a few courses as part of a liberal arts degree.

But the impact of AI on employability may be quite different outside of computer programming, some employers say. The rise of AI is already creating new opportunities for students who have studied liberal arts. This is particularly true for writing-intensive subjects, such as English and history, that draw more female students than technology and require students to pull together diverse sources of information. That is because the companies that are starting to use AI to deal with customers are hiring writers to produce scripts and prompts for chatbots to use.

Once graduated, both genders also worry that AI could reshape the job market for entry level work. Early experiments in the financial and professional services industries do suggest that AI tools will change the way marketing, investment banking and legal documents are created. Those changes could free junior employees from drudgery. But the more work that is turned over to AI, the fewer jobs will be needed. And most of these jobs currently operate on an apprenticeship model, in which doing the grunt work gives young employees a ringside seat for more substantive work.

Senior lawyers and bankers say their businesses are just beginning to grapple with the impact of AI on their recruiting and training plans. They do not want to miss out on hiring top talent, but they fear taking on more entry-level people than they need.

Some also worry that the focus on tech will hit workplace diversity efforts. “It is automation at a completely different level, which is why I’m concerned about women . . . My biggest fear is that women will fall behind again,” says Roya Rahmani, chair of Delphos International, which provides capital markets advisory services.

In the US, employers plan to hire 5.8 per cent fewer new graduates this year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The biggest reported drops were in financial services, computer and electronics manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.

Yet here, too, fears may be overblown. Employers predict that the use of AI will start to give at least some new graduates an edge. “This generation of students will come out having a baseline knowledge and be more comfortable [with AI] than the people in the workforce now,” says Lisa Donahue, co-head of the Americas and Asia at AlixPartners, a global consulting firm.

Students and new graduates must be prepared for the changes AI will bring to the workplace. Most white-collar jobs, and many others, too, require interaction with large language models, and there is likely to be a premium for workers who can do it well.

As companies depend more on AI to retrieve, condense and synthesise information, there will be greater need for people who can oversee that. Today’s LLMs are already infamous for “hallucinations” — making up answers. Dealing with that problem is likely to create a whole new work stream for humans. That, say employers, should create opportunities for new graduates with good communication skills — an area where some women thrive.

While previous tech booms advanced careers of computer science graduates, who were disproportionately male, this one could play out quite differently. “We are now all machine operators,” says Michael Zeltkevic, global head of capabilities at Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm. He argues that young graduates can prepare by seeking out courses and training focused on “how do I manage both people and bots? Just like humans, the bots are somewhat unpredictable, but that’s the price of creativity. It’s a new skill.”

应届毕业生应对人工智能对性别平等的影响

随着今年的毕业生准备步入职场，许多人对人工智能——尤其是像ChatGPT这样的大型语言模型——对他们职业的影响感到焦虑甚至恐惧。

根据BestColleges网站的一项调查，十分之六的美国大学生担心在学习中使用人工智能会降低学位的价值。更糟糕的是，超过一半的人预计，工作场所中人工智能的日益使用将进一步贬低他们的学历对潜在雇主的价值。

人们尤其担心女性（在计算机和科学学位中比例较低）会被排斥在就业市场之外。目前，企业技术部门主要由男性主导。随着人工智能扩展到营销和核心业务职能，这是否意味着其他工作的性别平衡也会倾斜？

如果雇主和帮助筛选简历的招聘算法认为使用人工智能工具需要技术学位，这些担忧是有道理的。像ChatGPT这样的程序可以使数据处理和简单编程变得更容易，因为它们提供了更直观的界面。这意味着想要从事专业IT或数据科学工作的学生可能需要学习更高级的课程来展示他们在这些领域的技能，而不是仅仅在文科学位中学习几门课程。

但一些雇主表示，人工智能对就业能力的影响在计算机编程之外可能会有很大不同。人工智能的兴起已经为学习文科的学生创造了新的机会。这一点对于写作密集型学科尤其如此，如英语和历史，这些学科吸引的女学生比技术类多，并要求学生整合多样化的信息源。这是因为开始使用人工智能与客户打交道的公司正在招聘作家为聊天机器人编写脚本和提示。

毕业后，两性都担心人工智能可能会重塑入门级工作的就业市场。金融和专业服务行业的早期实验表明，人工智能工具将改变营销、投资银行和法律文件的创建方式。这些变化可能会让初级员工摆脱繁琐工作。但是，越多的工作交给人工智能，需要的工作岗位就越少。而且，这些工作目前大多采用学徒模式，年轻员工通过做基础工作来近距离接触更实质性的工作。

高级律师和银行家表示，他们的企业刚刚开始应对人工智能对招聘和培训计划的影响。他们不想错过招聘顶尖人才的机会，但又担心雇用过多的入门级人员。

一些人还担心对技术的关注会影响工作场所的多样性努力。”这是一个完全不同层次的自动化，这就是为什么我担心女性……我最大的担忧是女性会再次落后，”提供资本市场咨询服务的Delphos International的主席Roya Rahmani说。

根据全国大学和雇主协会的数据，今年美国雇主计划雇用的应届毕业生减少了5.8%。报告的最大降幅出现在金融服务、计算机和电子制造以及制药行业。

然而，这里的担忧可能也被夸大了。雇主预测，人工智能的使用将开始给至少一些新毕业生带来优势。”这一代学生将会具备基础知识，并且比现在职场中的人更适应[人工智能]，”全球咨询公司AlixPartners美洲和亚洲联合负责人Lisa Donahue说。

学生和应届毕业生必须为人工智能给工作场所带来的变化做好准备。大多数白领工作，以及许多其他工作，都需要与大型语言模型互动，能够很好地完成这项工作的人可能会得到额外的奖励。

随着公司越来越依赖人工智能来检索、浓缩和综合信息，对能够监督这一过程的人的需求将会增加。如今的大型语言模型因”幻觉”——编造答案而臭名昭著。处理这个问题可能会为人类创造一个全新的工作流。雇主表示，这应该为具有良好沟通技能的新毕业生创造机会——这是一些女性擅长的领域。

虽然之前的科技繁荣推动了计算机科学毕业生（主要是男性）的职业发展，但这一次可能会有所不同。”我们现在都是机器操作员，”咨询公司奥纬咨询（Oliver Wyman）全球能力主管Michael Zeltkevic说。他认为，年轻毕业生可以通过寻求专注于”如何管理人和机器人？就像人一样，机器人也有些不可预测，但这是创造力的代价。这是一项新技能。”的课程和培训来做好准备。

笔记区

navigate v. 导航，引路；（有效地）处理

poll  n. 民意调查，民意测验；

diminish v. 减弱，降低，减少；贬低，轻视

rampant  adj. 泛滥的，猖獗的；

shut out 排斥在外

corporate adj. 公司的；

tilt  v. （使）倾斜，（使）倾侧；

spread v. 扩展，展开；

intuitive adj. 直觉的；直观的；易懂的，使用简便的

liberal arts degree 文科学位

intensive adj. 加强的，集中的，深入细致的；

diverse adj. 不同的，各式各样的

entry level 入门级

drudgery n. 苦工，苦差事

apprenticeship  n. 学徒期；学徒身份

grunt work 苦力工作

grunt v. （表示不愿意讲话时）发出哼声，嘟哝着说；n. （人或动物的）呼噜声；<非正式>干重体力活工资低的工人；

substantive adj. 有实质的；

grapple v. 扭打，搏斗；努力解决问题，应对困境（grapple with）；

advisory adj. 顾问的，咨询的

manufacturing n. 制造，制造业

pharmaceutical adj. 制药的；n. 药物；制药公司股票（pharmaceuticals）

overblown adj. 停息的；过分的；夸大的；已盛开过的

edge n. 边，边缘；锋，刃；优势；影响力，奇特的品质；

consult v. 咨询，请教；

consulting adj. 咨询的，顾问的

firm n. 公司，商行；

white-collar jobs 白领工作

interaction  n. 互动，交流；相互影响，相互作用

premium  n. 保险费；（正常价格或费用以外的）加付款，加价；很高的价值，额外价值；额外补贴，津贴；

retrieve v. 找回，收回；检索（储存于计算机的信息）；

condense  v. 冷凝，凝结；压缩，简缩；浓缩，变浓

synthesise  vi. 合成，接合；vt. 综合地处理；人工合成

oversee v. 监管，监督；看到，无意中看到

infamous  adj. 声名狼藉的；无耻的；邪恶的；不名誉的

hallucination n. 幻觉，幻想；错觉

disproportionately  adv. 不成比例地