AI Lab CEOs Warn of Slowing Junior Hires at Their Own Firms

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July 25, 2026

LiamCarter

On Tuesday, the CEOs of Google DeepMind and Anthropic informed a Davos audience that AI is already decreasing the need for junior staff at their own firms—a warning that holds significance because it comes from the very creators of the technology.

"I can see it within Anthropic—I foresee a time when, at both the junior and intermediate levels, we will actually need fewer people, not more," said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei during a joint interview with Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis at the World Economic Forum. "My concern is that as this exponential trend continues—and I don't think it's far off, somewhere between one and five years—it will surpass our ability to adapt."

FULL: Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei Debate What Comes After AGI at World Economic Forum | AI1G

Hassabis echoed the concern, focusing specifically on internships. "I think we'll start to see the beginnings of this impacting the junior level this year," he said. Instead of traditional internships, Hassabis suggested undergraduates use that time to "become proficient in learning these tools," which he argued "could be better than traditional internships because you're leapfrogging yourself for the next five years."These remarks represent a significant shift. For years, AI executives have reassured the public that automation generates more jobs than it eliminates. Now, the CEOs of two leading labs openly admit that their own hiring practices reflect a different reality—at least for entry-level positions.The Data Underlying the WarningAmodei's prediction—first made last year—that AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, remains unchanged. "Now I think we're starting to see just the early signs of it, in software and coding," he said on Tuesday.Anthropic's own research supports this trend. The company's January 2026 Economic Index found that 49% of jobs can now use AI for at least a quarter of their tasks—up from 36% in early 2025. While the report stresses that AI augments rather than replaces most work, it notes that 45% of firms report reduced hiring needs at entry levels, even though only 9% report complete role replacement.The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report projects a net gain of 78 million jobs globally by 2030, with 170 million created and 92 million displaced. However, this aggregate figure masks sharp differences by experience level. Entry-level job postings have declined 29% since January 2024, according to a Randstad analysis of 126 million postings worldwide.For coding specifically—the field where AI assistance has advanced the most—the numbers are even starker. Programmer employment has fallen 27.5% since 2023. New graduate hiring at major tech companies has dropped by more than 50%. AI coding startups like Cursor have grown explosively, partly by enabling fewer developers to produce more output.Orchestrators, Not OperatorsAnthropic's response to its own warning reveals what the new entry point might entail. Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger, former Instagram co-founder, acknowledged that Anthropic has "tended to hire fewer fresh college graduates" in recent months.Instead, the company seeks "people who are defined more by the problems they want to solve and how they can creatively solve them, rather than a very specific 'I know JavaScript and I'm going to work in this exact environment,'" Krieger explained. Internally, Anthropic is shifting to hire experienced staff as "orchestrators of Claudes"—workers who direct AI systems rather than perform the tasks those systems now handle.This represents a fundamental redefinition of entry-level work. The traditional on-ramp—learning by doing routine tasks under supervision—may be disappearing for roles where AI can perform those tasks faster and more cheaply. The question is what will replace it.The Broader PictureThe Davos warnings come amid broader anxiety about AI's impact on the labor market. Morgan Stanley projects that 200,000 European banking jobs will disappear by 2030, concentrated in back-office roles. Software stocks are falling as investors factor in disruption fears following Anthropic's Cowork launch earlier this month.Hassabis struck a more optimistic tone than Amodei, predicting "new, more meaningful jobs being created" and suggesting that any slowdown in internship hiring would be "compensated by the amazing tools available to everyone." He advised students to view AI proficiency as the new competitive advantage.But both executives acknowledged uncertainty about the pace of change. Amodei said Anthropic is "thinking about how to deal with that within Anthropic in a sensible way." What that looks like—for his company and the broader economy—remains unclear.The World Economic Forum has launched initiatives including a Learning-to-Earning Sandbox that brings together universities, employers, and governments to redesign how education connects to employment. According to the WEF's Davos briefing, 59 out of every 100 workers will need reskilling by 2030, with 11 unlikely to receive it.For now, the message from two of AI's most influential builders is straightforward: the technology they are creating is already changing who gets hired and why. Whether the economy adapts fast enough is a question neither could answer.

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