Companies are racing to adopt AI in the hope of driving down costs and speeding up processes. Yet some are going further, replacing entry-level staff with the astronomically hyped software.
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, has dismissed the idea outright. In a recent video interview with AI investor Matthew Berman, he called it "the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard."
If you don’t hire entry-level employees, then you don’t have people to grow in your company over time. How do you get your next generation of managers, directors, and executives if you didn’t ever hire the entry-level folks?"
"How's that going to work when ten years in the future you have no one that has learned anything?" Garman added. "My view is you absolutely want to keep hiring kids out of college and teaching them the right ways to go build software and decompose problems and think about it, just as much as you ever have."
A Timely Warning?
In a sign that Garman’s warning is pertinent, major organisations are already cutting or restructuring early-career roles in the name of AI-driven efficiency. Microsoft, for instance, recently removed over 6,000 positions, spanning senior engineers to AI directors, as it pivots to an “AI-first” strategy.
Similarly, McKinsey’s internal AI tool Lilli now handles tasks traditionally done by junior analysts, such as PowerPoint preparation, though the firm insists this frees analysts for higher-value client work. On the financial services front, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia reversed a controversial AI-led cut of call-centre jobs after the AI replacement backfired operationally.
The Business Cost of Hollowing Out the Workforce
Garman’s warning underlines the crux of the issue for business leaders weighing AI-driven efficiencies against long-term resilience. Eliminating junior roles may save money in the short term, but it risks undermining the workforce pipeline that sustains innovation and leadership succession.
The implications are enormous for tech buyers. Junior staff are often the first adopters of new workplace tools, whether piloting collaboration platforms, stress-testing customer experience software, or experimenting with AI copilots. They provide the feedback and cultural momentum that can make or break digital transformation projects.
Without these roles, organisations risk creating brittle ecosystems: efficient on paper but lacking the human capital required to adapt.
