In a bonus episode of Teacher’s AI Cafe, Kane reflects on attending a Career Connect event focused on AI and careers and shares disappointment that the session delivered few practical career insights. He summarizes guest speaker Alex Jenkins’ talk on generative AI and the future of work, including claims about AI’s potential global economic value, examples of AI-generated media, a Deloitte refund story, and demonstrations such as rapid website creation. Kane highlights Jenkins’ key point that AI is more likely to augment roles than replace them, but notes the talk lacked detailed discussion of which careers are being impacted and how. Kane also recaps a second speaker from the Public Sector Union discussing worker-centered AI adoption and reporting no reduction in entry-level jobs so far, while Kane argues many teen entry-level roles were already reduced through earlier automation like self-checkouts and ordering kiosks. He raises concern about reductions in graduate and internship opportunities as AI takes on tasks traditionally done by junior professionals, using law and software development examples (including Claude’s capabilities) to question how future experts will gain experience. The episode closes by inviting listeners’ perspectives, noting education is currently less threatened due to teacher shortages, and observing that much AI adoption is happening informally as “shadow AI” work.

00:00 Welcome to Teacher’s AI Cafe (and what this bonus episode is about)

00:23 Career Connect recap: expecting big AI insights for careers

01:44 Speaker 1 breakdown: Generative AI & the future of work (the highlights)

02:58 The key idea: job replacement vs job augmentation (co-pilot model)

04:50 Why the talk fell short: productivity isn’t a career roadmap

06:17 Speaker 2 (Public Sector Union): workers-first AI adoption + early findings

07:04 Entry-level work was already automated: self-serve, kiosks, mobile ordering

08:10 The real concern: shrinking graduate pathways and missing career guidance

09:33 When AI eats its own industry: Claude, law work, and coding jobs

10:27 Humans ‘in the loop’… but what happens to junior roles?

11:33 Bigger ripple effects: pricing, business models, and quality of service

12:15 Wrap-up: your thoughts, education’s outlook, and the ‘shadow AI’ reality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7GYCBDS7zM

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