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Artificial intelligence is no longer just changing how businesses work – it is changing who they hire, with new Gartner research finding that nearly one in four organisations have stopped hiring for entry-level roles as AI automation takes over.
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the workplace, its impact is being felt far beyond task automation – it is reaching the very bottom of the career ladder and beginning to reshape how the next generation of workers enters the workforce.
New Gartner research has revealed that nearly one in four organisations (22 per cent) have reported that at least one business leader has stopped hiring for some entry-level roles, as AI automation reshapes the work traditionally performed by early-career employees.
The fourth quarter 2025 Gartner survey of 110 heads of HR examined how organisations are adopting and implementing AI, as well as the impact the technology is already having across their workforces.
The report found that AI has rapidly moved from experimentation to implementation, with 95 per cent of organisations surveyed adopting the technology in some capacity over the past year.
Yet despite its rapid uptake, the majority are still struggling to translate AI investment into meaningful results, with just one in five organisations reporting significant or transformational value from the technology.
The global research and advisory firm found that much of the AI being deployed by organisations is focused on augmenting or automating the less complex tasks traditionally assigned to entry-level employees.
As AI absorbs more of this routine work, however, Gartner warned that a “mismatch” is emerging between the skills early-career workers typically bring to the workplace and the lower-complexity work that remains.
Rather than cutting off the first rung of the career ladder, Gartner HR director analyst Kaelyn Lowmaster warned that organisations should rethink early-career roles, giving emerging talent the opportunity to take on higher-value work sooner while building the skills they will need for the future.
“Organisations that respond by cutting their early-career talent pipelines altogether risk creating significant workforce challenges down the road,” Lowmaster said.
“Instead of eliminating these early-career roles, organisations should redefine them to enable earlier contributions to higher-value work and build the talent they will need in the future.”
Removing entry-level positions could also come with a significant financial cost.
Gartner flagged that, rather than developing talent internally, organisations may increasingly find themselves having to “pay premiums for experienced talent” from outside the business, as they have not developed the fundamental skills built through entry-level positions.
Against this backdrop, Gartner urged organisations to rethink how early-career employees develop, particularly as AI pushes workers into more complex roles earlier in their careers.
The firm identified three approaches that chief human resources officers (CHROs) can use to bridge the growing gap between the capabilities of early-career workers and the increasing complexity of work in AI-enabled environments:
Identify tasks that can safely shift to early-career roles.
Activate team support structures.
Build development safety nets.
