Victor Menaldo Says AI Won't Kill 50% of Entry-Level Jobs as Judgment Gains Value
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 11
Victor Menaldo Says AI Won't Kill 50% of Entry-Level Jobs as Judgment Gains Value
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 11
Summary
Up to 50% job-loss warnings from AI executives overstate the threat, Victor Menaldo argues, because firms hire people for bundled work anchored by judgment, coordination, trust and accountability.
More than 5% graduate unemployment and a 16% relative employment drop in AI-exposed entry-level fields show real pressure, but he says automating tasks does not automatically eliminate whole jobs.
AI's core weakness is verification: it can produce fluent answers yet cannot audit its own sources, show reliable error bars or bear liability when a fabricated citation or bad figure reaches a decision.
That shifts the premium to workers who validate output, redesign workflows and decide where models can be trusted, much as past general-purpose technologies raised the value of people who mastered them.
Menaldo says the transition will still hurt early-career workers, but the longer-run effect should be to raise—not erase—the value of human judgment.