AI Efficiency Could Cost Us the Next Generation of Experts
IEEE Spectrum 1 month ago 10
The article argues that generative AI and automation reduce the formative work junior engineers do, leading to expertise “atrophy” and worse performance when systems fail. It cites a Harvard working paper of about 65 million workers showing junior employment fell about 9% within six quarters after generative AI adoption. It proposes adding deliberate human “manual gates” into AI workflows—slower, chosen checkpoints like debugging with the AI assistant off—to preserve skills and ensure competent operators on the bad day.