AI in the Job Market: What To Be Aware Of

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into our day-to-day lives without us realizing it. Whether we are searching Google or writing an email, AI finds its way into our online activities. 

One concern many people have—especially those pursuing a career in writing—is how AI is affecting the job market. College students have been looking for internships and jobs online, but are met with multiple listings with “AI” in the title.

As students begin searching on Indeed and Handshake, they are likely to come across listings that read: “AI Content Writer - AI Trainer,” paying $20-27/hr. This type of job is extremely common and takes up a vast majority of listings.

According to a particular Indeed listing, “DataAnnotation is committed to creating quality AI. Join our team to train AI chatbots while gaining the flexibility of remote work and choosing your own schedule.” The listing also states that payments will be made via PayPal. 

Many companies are embracing the use of AI and integrating it into their work. However, if the workforce is going to maintain human identity and creativity, there are many aspects of AI usage to consider. 

Student Experience: Dj Hannon

You may want to jump at these job listings and start applying for any company that will give you an interview. But students have had negative experiences interviewing with AI companies, particularly Dj Hannon, junior creative writing major.

“In my freshman year of college, I wanted to get a headstart in the writing field and decided to go on LinkedIn,” said Hannon. “Most of the jobs available were called something along the lines of ‘AI trainer.’ While I don't support AI—especially now—these jobs were paying extremely well, were remote, and I wanted experience in the field.”

“I applied to one and an immediate ‘interview’ was granted. The ‘interview’ was simply a bunch of prompts in which I had to write prose pieces between 250 and 1500 words. This was supposed to see if my writing style matched what they were looking for. After spending hours writing, I submitted the ‘interview’ and never heard back. It was then I realized that I just trained an AI bot without any compensation.”

“Looking back, it was obvious; I was naive,” said Hannon. “Not only was I supporting AI in the industry which is designed to steal the job I wanted (ew), but I wasted my time, energy, and gave away my intellectual property. Now, I warn all writers about these scams in hopes that no one else will fall for what I did.”

What Should We Know

According to Viktoria Popova, director in Institutional Research at Centenary University, “Engagement with AI is very generic. For example, I ask a very simple, not insightful question. The more insightful your question is, driven by personal knowledge and your ability to be inquisitive, the more insightful the output of the response will be.” An example of a simple question is what are some marketing strategies? An insightful counterpart would be what are ten marketing strategies for a struggling local sandwich shop in Budd Lake, NJ?

According to Popova, if you have a problem, don’t jump right to asking AI for help. Take the time to ask people for advice, sleep on it, and think deeply about the issue. Learn from it before going to AI for a quick fix. 

“If you have a problem, AI can give pretty good advice, and it’s wonderful. I’m not saying we should not use it at all, but it can be one potential source, just like you would use your parents or friends. Expose yourself to having the alone time with your problem. Don’t immediately outsource it to AI.”

“AI cannot be creative. AI does not have empathy. We can ‘continue to compete with AI because AI knows how to solve this complex problem’ but AI cannot substitute me. It cannot be as creative or empathetic as humans,” said Popova. 

As a human in the workforce, it’s important to understand the skills and values you bring to the table. “Why would anyone want to work specifically with me? Is there anything that is unique and what can I work on that truly contributes to the central culture and enriches it?” said Popova.

“We have to make sure that we have personal, professional, mental, emotional growth and think about when it’s okay to outsource certain tasks.”

According to Popova, the future of technology used to mean 20 years into the future. Now, with how quickly AI is growing, the future is now only several months to a year in the future.

An important concept that has not generally been encouraged is curiosity. Asking why is very important. “We have been conditioned to look for correct answers, for the binary right or wrong. Asking questions is what will make us go forward.” 

Thoughts on AI from a Magazine Publisher

Amy Bridge—owner, editor, and publisher of lifestyle magazine The Journal—compared the rise in AI to other technological advances of the 20th century—most notably, the automobile. “All of a sudden, there were cars, but they weren’t perfected, and they weren’t mass produced. That’s the way I look at AI.”

“I think it’s going to be a more tremendous help to humanity and the medical sciences and research than the internet has, but it hasn’t been perfected,” said Bridge. “I think anyone who would rely only on AI to put out a communication vehicle is out of their mind.”

“I don’t think it’s something you’re going to have to worry about in the near future,” said Bridge. “A few years from now, maybe.”

“I don’t feel like the publishing world is ready to put both feet into AI . A lot of people in the publishing world are older who paid their dues and spent their time working hard to be in a place where they can make decisions about hiring. We’re not looking for the easy way out, because we love what we do.”

“It’s a conundrum. If AI and robots are going to take over the world, what are people going to do? Creativity is something you’re born with that doesn’t go away. To use AI to make pottery or to create, you’re almost going backwards.”

You can read more about Amy Bridge and her visit to The Cyclone Chronicle here.

Advice from an English Professor

Are you considering a career in education? Joseph Pizzo, professor of English, had much to say on the topic in his panel discussion on AI in education in Taylor Memorial Library on Monday, April 13.

“Life doesn’t have a rewind button,” said Pizzo. “We have to be a little more conscientious. We’re going to look at AI, not as an evil Satan from the depths. We’re also not going to look at it as a savior of all mankind. It’s somewhere in the middle.”

According to Pizzo, the greatest thing teachers can do for their students is give them back their time. “There is a lot of paperwork and monotonous things that you have to do as a teacher that AI does in two seconds.” His examples include lesson planning and student accessibility concerns. 

“We have to remember that AI is a vehicle,” said Pizzo. “It’s not a destination. It helps you. It contributes. But it’s almost impossible to let AI do all of the work. AI is not the do all, be all, and end all.”

When referring to a study that analyzed cognition through papers written by humans, AI researched, and AI-written papers, Pizzo said, “the people who used AI solely to write their papers, not only was their level of cognition much lower, but when they were asked to quote one sentence they had used, they couldn’t do it. They were asked to make one point from their paper. They couldn’t do it.”

His panel also discussed how AI was being used to grade papers. A high school in New Jersey had used AI to grade the open-ended responses on the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA). What teachers found was that the AI model graded papers that used the rule of magic three’s, list of three specific examples, and certain key words higher, regardless of content. On average, the teachers graded the essays much differently than the AI. 

Here, the question remains: how do teachers approach the issue? Do they A.) use an AI-generated rubric to teach students how to write?, B.) redesign the AI models to follow teacher grading strategies, or C.) forgo the use of AI in grading? 

These big questions in education are important to consider when going into the field. It’s not an issue in every classroom and school currently, but it could be a potential problem down the line. 

Final Remarks

AI is a very complicated topic in the job market and education. As students venture into the workforce, they must be aware of the advantages and disadvantages. AI is not perfect yet. It’s flawed. It’s a tool, not an expert. It’s also changing rapidly and growing in unpredictable ways. But it’s being used in virtually every field in some capacity. 

As you start applying for jobs, take the points made by Dj Hannon, Viktoria Popova, Amy Bridge, and Professor Joseph Pizzo into consideration. Being aware of the impact of AI will only make you a stronger candidate and foster the critical thinking skills needed to move forward in both your career and future.