Why Young Professionals Are Stanford’s “Canaries in the AI Coal Mine” - And What Leaders Must Do Now

When coal miners once carried canaries into tunnels, they weren’t testing air quality for fun, they were protecting life. Today, early-career professionals in AI-exposed jobs are playing a similar role. A new Stanford analysis shows that generative AI isn’t taking jobs evenly, it’s hollowing out the bottom rungs first.

The paper, titled "Canaries in the Coal Mine?" (Brynjolfsson, Chandar & Chen, 2025*), provides a clear signal: the AI revolution has arrived, but it’s not hitting all workers equally. Entry-level workers, particularly those in roles exposed to generative AI, are seeing the sharpest employment declines. The jobs may still exist, but new workers are no longer being hired into them at the same rate.

Let’s unpack what this means, and what we, as leaders, need to do about it.

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Six Facts from Stanford That Should Grab Every Leader’s Attention

1. Entry-Level Workers Are Being Squeezed

Among 22–25-year-olds in high-exposure roles, employment dropped by 13% relative to less-exposed roles, post-AI rollout.

2. Older Workers Are Staying Put

In the same roles, more experienced employees aren’t seeing the same decline. Their employment remains stable, sometimes even growing.

3. Wages Are Not Falling (Yet)

The adjustment is happening in hiring, not pay. That means fewer opportunities for new entrants, but little change for those already in the system.

4. The Difference Lies in Task Type: Augmentation vs. Automation

AI isn’t displacing all roles equally. It’s targeting tasks that can be automated, and that often means junior responsibilities.

5. Macro Job Growth Hides Micro Disruptions

The economy as a whole is growing. But that growth is masking a shift in who gets hired and where.

6. This Shift Began in Late 2022

The timing matches the public debut of tools like ChatGPT. We’re not guessing here, we’re seeing real cause and effect.

Source: Stanford Digital Economy Lab, August 2025, "Canaries in the Coal Mine?"

What I See Behind These Numbers

As someone who coaches and consults with purpose-driven leaders and their teams, I don't read this as a crisis of technology. I read it as a challenge to leadership.

This isn’t just about jobs disappearing. It’s about the erosion of one of the most critical structures in any healthy organization: the entry ramp.

If you’re no longer hiring junior talent into marketing, admin, research, customer support, or early-stage product roles, what happens next?

• You lose your talent bench.

• You lose your future leadership pipeline.

• And you risk becoming a brittle, top-heavy organization with no internal growth.

The organizations I work with are already starting to feel this: Teams are leaner. Training budgets are tighter. Expectations are higher. And the new generation? They're either stuck outside the door or hustling gig-to-gig with no clear growth track.

We’re automating tasks. Yes. But not only that: We’re erasing opportunity.

Why This Is Happening (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)

There’s a practical reason this is showing up in entry-level roles first:

• These jobs are often task-heavy, with less strategic context.

• They include repeatable, predictable workflows (prime territory for LLMs).

• They’re perceived as "lower risk" to automate.

But this comes with a significant danger:

These jobs are also *how people learn the business:

• They build tacit knowledge, networks, confidence.

• They serve as proving grounds for emerging talent.

Strip that away, and we’re not just saving money. We’re weakening the organization’s capacity to adapt, grow, and regenerate itself.

In systems theory, this is called undermining resilience.

In human terms, it's short-term optimization with long-term costs.

What Leaders Must Do Now

We can’t afford to wait for policymakers or market corrections. If you’re leading a team, a department, or a company, guess what? You can act today.

Here’s how:

1. Design AI-Augmented Roles, Not AI-Replacement Ones

Build entry-level roles that integrate AI tools as part of the learning curve, not as a reason to eliminate the role altogether. Let young professionals co-pilot with AI,a nd build capacity through it.

2. Create Apprenticeship Pathways Inside Your Org

If traditional junior jobs are shrinking, invent new ones. Pair early-career talent with experienced staff and AI workflows. Make shadowing, learning, and experimenting part of the job description.

3. Invest in Cross-Generational Teams

Keep your older employees in the loop, but pair them with newcomers. The experience gap is now also a tech fluency gap. Both can teach each other. That exchange is gold.

4. Get Real About Internal Mobility

If you're not hiring at the bottom, are you at least growing from within? If not, you're locking your team into stagnation. Use AI to enable growth, not replace it.

5. Track Where Hiring Is Quietly Vanishing

Don’t wait for HR to flag it. Look at your own data. Are you hiring fewer juniors in certain roles? Ask why. Ask what that will mean in two years, not just next quarter.

6. Name the Elephant in the Room

Talk openly with your teams about this. Young employees know they’re being squeezed. Ignoring it doesn’t build trust. Naming it does.

What This Means for the Future

We are not powerless here. But we do need to be intentional.

The canaries have already started falling silent. The question isn’t whether AI will transform the workforce. It’s whether we’ll have the courage to redesign the system to keep people, especially emerging talent, in the loop.

If we want organizations that last, cultures that adapt, and teams that grow stronger over time, we can’t afford to hollow out the base.

This is your moment, as a leader, to take the long view.

Not just to manage AI.

To lead through it.

If this landed with you, let's explore how to make your team future-ready without sacrificing the people who will one day lead it.

So before you move on to your next meeting—pause for a moment. If entry-level hiring has quietly stalled, you might already be seeing the early signs of a deeper shift. I’ve created a practical tool to help you spot where your talent pipeline might be thinning before it breaks. It’s quick, clear, and designed for busy leaders.

👉 Download the Talent Flow Radar and run a 5-minute self-check with your team.

Let’s make sure you’re still growing leaders, not just managing tasks. And - by now you know that I won't leave you alone with any questions you may have. You certainly get a complimentary call with me after you worked with the Talent Flow Radar.

*[Based on: Brynjolfsson, E., Chandar, B., & Chen, J. (2025). Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence. Stanford Digital Economy Lab.](https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/publications/canaries-in-the-coal-mine/)