AI Could Take Your Job—Or Help Find Your Next One

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We hear a lot about how generative artificial intelligence may one day replace many white collar jobs—and in some cases, it may already be happening. But AI tools are also increasingly being embraced to help people find jobs—not only by writing cover letters or rewriting résumés, but getting interactive career advice through 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 share career advice, some workers are drawn to using tools that don’t leave them subject to judgment from their managers or a human coach. During a time of job cuts and budget setbacks, as companies seek to help workers hone “soft” human skills like problem-solving, AI is emerging, ironically, as a cheap and accessible—if less personalized—alternative to traditionally high-cost human coaching.

There are concerns, as you might expect: To be personalized, AI coaching companies must compel users to divulge specific personal information, some experts told Linares. Workers seeking advice on dealing with a toxic boss, say, might not feel comfortable asking that of tools their boss provides. And whether they’ll ever be able to provide the kind of experienced, nuanced feedback as a human coach is yet to be seen. For more about how AI career coaches could play out in the future of work, check out Maria’s great story here.

Speaking of the Future of Work, our summit is fast approaching! We’re excited to welcome speakers such as Calendly CEO Tope Awotona and Etsy CEO Josh Silverman as well as the chief people officers of Accenture, IBM, Pinterest, Neiman Marcus Group and more to our lineup. If you’d like to apply to attend—the summit is invitation-only—we’d love for you to submit an entry here. Hope it’s a great week!

HUMAN CAPITAL

Previous data far overestimated the labor market recovery, new government data showed Wednesday. The U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously estimated from March 2023 to March 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which brings total employment growth (not including farm jobs) for the 12-month period from 2.9 million to about 2.1 million. While some could see a worrisome sign amid slowing job growth, other experts suggested the revisions aren’t as bad as they may seem, Derek Saul reports.

POLICY + PRACTICE

Just days before a controversial noncompete law was set to go into effect, a federal judge in Texas barred the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing the rule, finding the agency exceeded its authority, Kelly Phillips Erb reports. The decision follows an earlier stay and preliminary injunction against the FTC that only applied to plaintiffs in a legal challenge that was filed the same day the vote occurred in April approving the ban. In the approved rule, the FTC said “it is an unfair method of competition—and therefore a violation of section 5—for persons to, among other things, enter into noncompete clauses with workers on or after the final rule’s effective date.”

GLOBAL TALENT

Three years after nabbing a $200 million Series E funding round and a $1.5 billion valuation, hiring platform Andela, aimed at helping companies hire remote workers in Africa, Latin America and other countries, has a new CEO. Carrol Chang, a longtime Uber executive who most recently led its global driver and courier operations, will succeed founder Jeremy Johnson. Two years after regrouping, sales are up 15% so far this fiscal year, reports Alex Konrad, with more than half that funding round still in the bank. (And speaking of global talent, check out Forbes editorial fellow Segun Olakoyenikan’s story about fintech startup Nala, a cross-border remittance service that enables African migrants working in the U.S. and 20 European nations to send money back home to 11 African countries.)

LEARNING + DEVELOPMENT

Worker training is going virtual … reality, that is. Jeremy Bogaisky reports on Swiss startup Loft Dynamics, which is aiming to transform pilot training. Its flight simulator, which is one-tenth the size and one-twentieth the cost of the hulking top-line models currently in use, is the first virtual reality trainer to win approval from the FAA. Plus: Check out contributor Maria Flynn’s piece on all the ways extended reality technology—which includes virtual, augmented, and mixed reality—is becoming part of worker training, from frontline service technicians to healthcare workers and in education settings.

FACTS + COMMENT

Since 2023, as the movement to bar DEI offices caught on among Republican lawmakers, some states have slashed positions and pocketed the savings, while others have engaged in a more nuanced response. Getting rid of DEI offices isn’t as simple as firing staff or changing department names, Asia Alexander reports, because inclusion programs have been woven into campus functions for decades.

192: The number of college campuses, in 26 states, that have made changes to their DEI programs, according to a tracker maintained by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

$25 million: The amount that the University of Texas system reported to state senators in May it had saved by closing 21 offices, cutting 311 positions, and canceling 681 DEI-related training sessions.

“It’s easy to play politics with DEI roles, but real people are suffering”—Said former University of Florida chief diversity officer Marsha McGriff, now vice chancellor for equity and inclusion at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst

STRATEGIES + ADVICE

Here’s how employers can better serve disabled workers.

It’s fall again. Find a better return-to-office strategy this year as employees still fight them.

Don’t ask women to ‘lean in.’ Here’s what to do instead.

VIDEO

This Next Billion-Dollar Tech Startup Lets You Build AI Models Cheaper And Faster

QUIZ

Which former S&P 500 CEO was the only major business executive on the agenda at the Democratic National Convention last Tuesday?

1. Lloyd Blankfein, former Goldman Sachs CEO
2. Rose Marcario, former Patagonia CEO
3. Kenneth Frazier, former Merck CEO
4. Ken Chenault, former American Express CEO

Check out the right answer here.