AI could take your job away – or help you find the next one

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New AI-based career coaching tools are generating demand – but privacy issues and skepticism about the quality of non-human answers could slow adoption.

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BWe hear a lot about how generative artificial intelligence could one day replace many office jobs – and in some cases, this may already be happening. But AI tools are also increasingly being used to help People find jobs – not only by writing cover letters or rewriting resumes, but also by receiving interactive career advice from an AI-powered career coach.

My colleague Maria Gracia Santillana Linares reported this weekend on the growing demand for AI career coaches. As employers integrate AI features that offer career advice, some workers are drawn to tools that don't expose them to the judgment of their bosses or a human coach. Ironically, at a time of layoffs and budget cuts when companies are trying to help their employees hone “soft” human skills like problem-solving, AI is proving to be a cheap and accessible – if less personalized – alternative to traditionally expensive human coaching.

As you might expect, there are concerns: To be personalized, AI coaching companies will have to force users to reveal certain personal information, some experts told Linares. Workers seeking advice on how to deal with a toxic boss, for example, may not feel comfortable asking that about the tools their boss provides them. And whether they'll ever be able to provide the kind of experienced, nuanced feedback as a human coach remains to be seen. For more on how AI career coaches could impact the future of work, check out Maria's great story here.

Speaking of the future of work, our summit is just around the corner! We're excited to welcome speakers like Calendly CEO Tope Awotona and Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, as well as the HR leaders of Accenture, IBM, Pinterest, Neiman Marcus Group, and more. If you'd like to apply to attend (the summit is invitation-only), we'd love for you to submit a paper here. We hope it's a great week!

HUMAN CAPITAL

Previous data significantly overestimated the labor market recovery, new government data showed Wednesday. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously estimated from March 2023 to March 2024, bringing total job growth (excluding farm jobs) for the 12-month period to about 2.1 million from 2.9 million. While some see the slowdown in job growth as a worrying sign, other experts said the revisions are not as bad as they seem, Derek Saul reports.

POLITICS + PRACTICE

Just days before a controversial non-compete law was set to take effect, a federal judge in Texas barred the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing the law, saying the agency had exceeded its authority, Kelly Phillips Erb reports. The decision followed an earlier stay and preliminary injunction against the FTC that applied only to plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed the same day the ban was voted on in April. In the approved rule, the FTC said, “It is an unfair method of competition – and therefore a violation of Section 5 – for persons to enter into non-compete covenants with employees on or after the effective date of the final rule, among other things.”

GLOBAL TALENTS

Three years after winning a $200 million Series E funding round and valuing it at $1.5 billion, Andela, a staffing platform designed to help companies hire remote workers in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, has a new CEO. Carrol Chang, a longtime Uber executive who most recently led global driver and courier services, will succeed founder Jeremy Johnson. Two years after the restructuring, revenue is up 15% so far this fiscal year, Alex Konrad reports, and more than half of that funding round is still in the bank. (And speaking of global talent, check out: Forbes Editorial staff member Segun Olakoyenikan's story on fintech startup Nala, a cross-border remittance service that enables African migrants working in the US and 20 European countries to send money home to 11 African countries.)

LEARNING + DEVELOPMENT

Worker training is going virtual…reality, to be exact. Jeremy Bogaisky reports on Swiss startup Loft Dynamics, which is looking to revolutionize pilot training. Its flight simulator, which is one-tenth the size and one-twentieth the cost of the giant, top-of-the-line models currently in use, is the first virtual reality trainer to receive FAA approval. Plus: Read author Maria Flynn's article on all the ways extended reality technology—including virtual, augmented and mixed reality—is becoming part of worker training, from field service technicians to healthcare and educational workers.

FACTS + COMMENT

Since 2023, when the movement to eliminate DEI offices gained popularity among Republican lawmakers, some states have cut positions and pocketed the savings, while others have shown a more nuanced response. Eliminating DEI offices isn't as simple as laying off staff or changing department names, Asia Alexander reports, because inclusion programs have been woven into campus functions for decades.

192: The number of colleges in 26 states that have made changes to their DEI programs is shown in a tracker published by the Chronicle of higher education.

$25 million: The amount the University of Texas System told state senators in May was saved by closing 21 offices, eliminating 311 jobs and canceling 681 DEI-related trainings.

“DEI roles are easy to play politics, but real-world people suffer,” said Marsha McGriff, former chief diversity officer at the University of Florida and now vice chancellor for equity and inclusion at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

STRATEGIES + CONSULTING

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QUIZ

Which former CEO of an S&P 500 was the only high-ranking business executive on the agenda of the Democratic National Convention last Tuesday?

Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs
Rose Marcario, former CEO of Patagonia
Kenneth Frazier, former CEO of Merck
Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express

You can find the correct answer here.