Over his 30-year career in corporate law, Nandan Nelivigihas seen many forms of automation gradually change the tasks assigned to first-year associates.
When Nelivigi, now a partner in New York at the global firm White & Case, began his career with a freshly minted Harvard Law degree, he recalls that his duties included taking notes at client meetings. These were learning sessions, as he carefully observed the senior associates and partners plying their skills. And for young lawyers involved in litigation, there was also extensive document-based research.
Through the decades, some of that first-year legal work has been automated. But now generative AI and AI agents — apps that can perform carefully tailored tasks autonomously — have accelerated the process and brought a new level of efficiency. That raises big questions about what a first-year lawyer can do that AI can’t. Or, for that matter, what the role should be for entry-level people in various other knowledge-based professions, like tax and accounting.
Automation boosts efficiency and frees professionals to focus on high-value work, like client strategy and consulting. Even entry-level talent plays a role in an AI-enabled workplace by learning to validate AI outputs and to spot any errors in the results.
It’s possible, therefore, that a first-year associate at an AI-enabled law or accounting firm may be able to more quickly perform the tasks once handled by someone with a few years of professional experience. Of course, it will still be crucial that these professionals acquire the full set of human wisdom and expertise that will prepare them to be the leaders of their firms 15 or 20 years down the road.
After all, simply replacing entry-level workers with AI is not an option — not unless business and society are willing to accept, as the older generation retires, that AI agents will be the sole practitioners in these crucial professions. Few people would settle for that future.
Law schools and universities with pre-law programs are already thinking about how to train the rising generation for an AI-enabled future. It’s imperative that these new graduates enter workplaces that are also adapting to the AI transformation, if the firms want to remain competitive. Future-ready professional firms are the ones that focus on new forms of mentoring and training.
“A lot of the process with AI is not going to be happening in a big conference room where people can observe how others do it,’’ Nelivigi told us. “It’s going to be happening on your personal computer, on your screen or on your phone. So there needs to be a different approach to conveying some of the basic skills on how people will need to work and be trained — and to train themselves to some extent.”
The Crucial Questions
Certainly at Thomson Reuters, we spend considerable time wrestling with the same questions that Nelivigi is pondering — and not only for our own hiring and training. We know that our approach to the database tools and advisory services we provide to lawyers, as well as to the tax and accounting professions, needs to consider the future of entry-level roles and training.
Over the decades, machine learning and various forms of AI have made those services increasingly powerful and efficient. But the advent of agentic AI truly represents a major pivot for those professions — and society more broadly — when it comes to defining career paths.
So far, the impact of AI on the work of entry-level professionals has not translated to hiring patterns. In law, in fact, hiring of first-year attorneys has recently been at record levels. And in the accounting-related professions, the big challenge continues to be finding enough talent to fill the entry-level ranks as older CPAs retire and young people with the requisite skills opt for other types of work.
In this year’s edition of our annual “Future of Professionals” report, we surveyed nearly 2,300 knowledge workers and found that 81% have tried using AI-powered technologies to start or edit their work at least once. And yet, only 22% of their employers have adopted and communicated a clear AI strategy. Those numbers indicate that whatever their hiring practices, few professional firms have consciously changed their approach to training entry-level employees in response to their use of AI.
It’s time for those doing the hiring and for the AI natives entering the professions to start thinking strategically. And one thing is already clear: Training and management in this new environment must involve supervising people and AI.
Evolving Business Models
A common concern I hear from the professionals I talk with is that the increasing use of AI tools by entry-level employees could deter development of their on-the-job cognitive-reasoning education — the new habits of mind that a lawyer or accountant receives by working with senior colleagues. That’s why managing and mentoring must take both people and the new technology into account.
“There’s no question,’’ Nelivigi said, “that we need to focus on new types of specific training to make up for what the young people are losing in the new AI environment.”
The Novices Can Also Teach
The rising generation, to which tools like agentic AI are becoming second nature, have a role to play in helping their senior colleagues see the potential for redefining the future of the knowledge professions.
In law, that might include new business models in which the billable-hours model gives way to broader strategic services with value-based pricing and even subscription models. Clearly, the tradition at some big firms of charging clients hundreds of dollars an hour for even an entry-level employee’s work is not sustainable when an AI agent can do in seconds what once took a person hours or days to accomplish.
In tax and accounting, meanwhile, as AI takes on more of the automation of manual tasks and the handling of complex analysis and data processing, the business might be defined by moving beyond financial reviews to helping forecast the business future. Today’s entry-level knowledge workers are the ones who’ll be defining — and living — that future.
The one certainty: Any organization that wants to still be around in coming years must re-invent on-the-job training for knowledge professionals. Firms that embrace this shift will strengthen their profession. Those that don’t will risk a future without a new generation of leaders.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn’t foresee a sudden spike of AI-related layoffs, but that doesn’t mean the technology won’t drastically change the job market—or even create new roles like robot tailors.
The jobs that will be the most resistant to AI’s creeping effect will be those that consist of more than just routine tasks, Huang said during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan this week.
“If your job is just to chop vegetables, Cuisinart’s gonna replace you,” Huang said.
On the other hand, some jobs, such as radiologists, may be safe because their role isn’t just about taking scans, but rather interpreting those images to diagnose people.
“The image studying is simply a task in service of diagnosing the disease,” he said.
Huang allowed that some jobs will indeed go away, although he stopped short of using the drastic language from others like Geoffrey Hinton a.k.a. “the Godfather of AI” and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, both of whom have previously predicted massive unemployment thanks to the improvement of AI tools.
Yet, the potential, AI-dominated job market Huang imagines may also add some new jobs, he theorized. This includes the possibility that there will be a newfound demand for technicians to help build and maintain future AI assistants, Huang said, but also other industries that are harder to imagine.
“You’re gonna have robot apparel, so a whole industry of—isn’t that right? Because I want my robot to look different than your robot,” Huang said. “So you’re gonna have a whole apparel industry for robots.”
The idea of AI-powered robots dominating jobs once held by humans may sound like science fiction, and yet some of the world’s most important tech companies are already trying to make it a reality.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made the company’s Optimus robot a central tenet of its future business strategy. Just last month, Musk predicted money will no longer exist in the future and work will be optional within the next 10 to 20 years thanks to a fully fledged robotic workforce.
AI is also advancing so rapidly that it already has the potential to replace millions of jobs. AI can adequately complete work equating to about 12% of U.S. jobs, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report from last month. This represents about 151 million workers representing more than $1 trillion in pay, which is on the hook thanks to potential AI disruption, according to the study.
Even Huang’s potentially new job of AI robot clothesmaker may not last. When asked by Rogan whether robots could eventually make apparel for other robots, Huang replied: “Eventually. And then there’ll be something else.”
After two decades of climbing the corporate ladder at companies ranging from ABC, ESPN, and Charter Communications (commonly known as Spectrum), Timm Chiusano quit it all to become a content creator.
He wasn’t just walking away from high titles, but a high salary, too. In his peak years, Chiusano made $600,000 to $800,000 annually. But in June of 2024, after giving a 12-week notice, he “responsibility fired himself” from his corporate job as VP of production and creative services at Charter.
He did it all to help others navigate the challenges of a workplace, and appreciate the most mundane parts of life on TikTok.
most people are posting their 2024 recaps; these are a few of my favorite moments from the year that was, but i need to start reintroducing myself too i dont have a college degree, no one in my life knew that until i was 35 when i eventually got my foot in the door in my early 20’s after a few years of substitute teaching and part time jobs, i thought for sure i had found the career path of my dreams in live sports production i didn’t think i had a chance of surviving that first college football season but i busted my ass, stuck around and got promoted 5 times in 5 years then i met a girl in Las Vegas, got married in 7 months, and freaked out about my career that had me travelling 36 weeks a year i had to find a more stable “desk job”, i was scared shitless that i was pigeonholed and the travel would eventually destroy my marriage i crafted a narative for espn arguing they needed me on their marketing team because of my unique perspective coming from the production side i got rejected, but kept trying and a year i got that job the 7 years with espn were incredible, but also exhausting and raised all kinds of questions about corporate america, toxic situations, and capitalism in general why was i borderline heart attack stressed so often when i could see that my ideas were literally generating 2,000 times the money that i was getting paid? in 2012 i had a kid and in 2013 i got the biggest job of my career to reinvent how to produce 20,000 commercials a year for small business it took 12 rounds of interviews, a drug test i somehow passed, and a background check that finally made me tell my wife of 8 years that i didnt have a college degree they brought me in the thursday before my first day and told me what i told grace in that clip the next decade was an insane blur; i saw everything one would ever see in their career from the perspective of an executive at a fortune 100 i started making tiktoks, kinda blacked out at some point in 2019 and responsibly fired myself in 2024 to see what i might be capable of on my own with all the skills i picked up along my career journey now the mission is pay what i know forward, and see if i can become the mr rogers of corporate america cc: @grace beverley @Ryan Holiday @Subway Oracle
What started as short-video vlogs on just about anything in 2020 (reviews on protein bars, sushi, and sneakers) later transitioned to videos on growing up, and dealing with life’s challenges, like coming to terms when you have a toxic boss. Today, his platform on TikTok has over 1 million followers.
With the help of going viral from his “loop” format where videos end and seamlessly circle back to the beginning, he began making more videos as a side-hustle on top of his day-to-day tasks in the office.
“How can I get people to be smarter and more comfortable about their careers in ways that are gonna help on a day-to-day basis?” Chiusano told Fortune.
Today, he could go by many titles: former vice president at a Fortune 100 company, motivational speaker, dad, content creator, or as he labels himself, the Mister Rogers of Corporate America.
Just as the late public television icon helped kids navigate the complexities of childhood, Chiusano wants to help young adults think about how to approach their careers and their potential to make an impact.
“Mister Rogers is the greatest of all time in his space. I will never get to that level of impact. But it’s an easy way to describe what I’m trying to do, and it consistently gives me a goal to strive for,” he said. “There are some parallels here with the quirkiness.”
Firing himself after 25 years in the corporate world
Even with years in corporate, Chiusano doesn’t resemble the look of a typical buttoned-up executive. Today, he has more of a relaxed Brooklyn dad attire, with a sleeve of tattoos and a confidence to blend in with any trendy middle aged man in Soho. During our interview, he showed off one of the first tattoos he got: two businessmen shaking hands, a reference to Radiohead’s OK Computer album.
“This is a dope ass Monday in your 40s,” began one of his videos.
It consisted of Chiusano doing everyday things such as eating leftovers, going to the gym, training for the NYC marathon, taking out the trash, dropping his daughter off at school, a rehearsal for a Ted Talk, eating lunch with his wife, and brand deal meetings. Though the content sounds pretty normal, that’s the point.
“The reason why I fired myself in the first place was to be here,” he says in the video while picking his daughter up from school.
Today, Chiusano spends his days making content on navigating workplace culture, public speaking, brand deals, brand partnerships, executive coaching, writing a book, and the most important job: being a dad to his 13-year-old daughter Evelyn.
“I’m basically flat [in salary] to where I was, and this is everything I could ever want in the world,” he said. “The ability to send my kid to the school she’s been going to, eat sushi takeout almost as much as I’d like, and do nice things for my wife.”
In fact, when sitting inside one of his favorite New York City spots, Lure Fishbar, he keeps getting stopped by regulars who know him by name. He points out that one of his favorite interviews he filmed here was with legendary filmmaker Ken Burns.
Advice to Gen Z
In a time where Gen Z has been steering to more unconventional paths, like content creation or skill trades rather than just a 9-to-5 office job, Chiusano opens up a lens to what life looks like when deciding to be present rather than always looking for what’s next—a mistake he said he made in his 20s.
Instead, he wants to teach the younger generation to build skills for as long as you can, but “if you are unhappy, that’s a very different conversation.”
“I think some people will make themselves more unhappy because they feel like that’s what’s expected of a situation,” he said.
“I would love to be able to empower your generation more, to be like somebody’s gonna have to be the head of HR at that super random company to put cool standards and practices in place for better work-life balance for the employees.”
For Mark Zuckerberg, the most significant creation from his two years at Harvard University wasn’t the precursor to a global social network, but a prank website that nearly got him expelled.
The Meta CEO said in a 2017 commencement address at his alma mater that the controversial site, Facemash, was “the most important thing I built in my time here” for one simple reason: it led him to his wife, Priscilla Chan.
“Without Facemash I wouldn’t have met Priscilla, and she’s the most important person in my life,” Zuckerberg said during the speech.
In 2003, Zuckerberg, then a sophomore, created Facemash by hacking into Harvard’s online student directories and using the photos to create a site where users could rank students’ attractiveness. The site went viral, but it was quickly shut down by the university. Zuckerberg was called before Harvard’s Administrative Board, facing accusations of breaching security, violating copyrights, and infringing on individual privacy.
“Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out,” Zuckerberg recalled in his speech. “My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going-away party.”
It was at this party, thrown by friends who believed his expulsion was imminent, where he met Chan, another Harvard undergraduate. “We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower, and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines, I said: ‘I’m going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly,’” Zuckerberg said.
Chan, who described her now-husband to The New Yorker as “this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there,” went on the date with him. Zuckerberg did not get expelled from Harvard after all, but he did famously drop out the following year to focus on building Facebook.
While the 2010 film The Social Network portrayed Facemash as a critical stepping stone to the creation of Facebook, Zuckerberg himself has downplayed its technical or conceptual importance.
“And, you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn’t,” he said during his commencement speech. But he did confirm that the series of events it set in motion—the administrative hearing, the “going-away” party, the line for the bathroom—ultimately connected him with the mother of his three children.
Chan, for her part, went on to graduate from Harvard in 2007, taught science, and then attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, becoming a pediatrician.
She and Zuckerberg got married in 2012, and in 2015, they co-founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization focused on leveraging technology to address major world challenges in health, education, and science. Chan serves as co-CEO of the initiative, which has pledged to give away 99% of the couple’s shares in Meta Platforms to fund its work.
You can watch the entirety of Zuckerberg’s Harvard commencement speech below:
For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
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