AI may cut the need for younger staff, CEOs say: ‘With the commoditization of intelligence, it’s not about having the smartest people anymore’

• In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the potential for AI to destroy entry-level jobs.
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Good morning. AI is disrupting entry-level jobs. While most CEOs are focused on upskilling their workforce, several have told me they’re reluctant to hire junior staff whose work can be done by AI agents. Companies posting fewer internships–down 15% from two years ago, according to Handshake–and hiring fewer young people once those internships are done. Economic volatility plays a role but AI risks replacing what junior analysts, consultants, and other knowledge workers typically do.

Suzanne Clark, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, reflected on the consequences when we spoke yesterday. “What happens if you don’t hire a generation of people? How do you create that next layer of leadership? If you have machines doing entry-level work, how do you develop culture?”

One answer is to reinforce the importance of mentoring and developing young leaders. I just read Who Believed in You? by prominent banker Dina Powell McCormick and Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa), who write about the power that mentors played in their lives and the lives of leaders like Satya Nadella and Tory Burch. McCormick talked to me about how 99-year-old Henry Kissinger encouraged him to run for the Senate while Powell McCormick stressed the transformational role that former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein played in the decade she reported to him.

“You have to take an interest in building the next generation; it's perhaps the greatest legacy any of us could have,” said Powell McCormick: “Every CEO and every board member should be asking, what kind of mentoring culture do we have in this company?”

And maybe you have to hire differently. Jasper.ai’s CEO Timothy Young told me recently that, “With the commoditization of intelligence, it’s not about having the smartest people anymore. It’s about developing your staff to have management skills because every employee in the next 12 months is going to have a series of agents that are helping them do their work.” Young, for one, hires for curiosity and resilience. “There is a lot of power in the junior employees but you can't leverage them the same way that you would in the past.”

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Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com