AI-native startups are hiring fewer entry-level workers, Harvard study finds - Business Insider

Ah, the 'AI-native startup' — that magical creature that promises to revolutionise industry while quietly slashing the very entry points that let humans get a foot in the door. A Harvard Business School and INSEAD working paper has now confirmed what anyone who's watched the tech sector for five minutes suspected: these shiny new ventures are 25% smaller overall, with a full 15% fewer entry-level workers and managers. So much for the 'democratising innovation' pitch. It turns out democratisation means fewer people, especially the cheap, inexperienced ones who might one day become senior talent — if they ever got hired.

The study finds that AI-native firms pack 13% more engineers into their leaner headcounts. That's great if you're a senior dev with five years of Transformer experience; less so if you're a graduate hoping to learn on the job. The paper controls for industry, age, and funding, because the researchers are thorough. But the bottom line is stark: the startups that embody our AI future are structurally designed to demand less human labour, especially at the bottom rungs. It's efficiency, they'll call it. Lean, agile, disruption. All the buzzwords that sound so much better in a pitch deck than on a CV.

Some might argue that AI-native startups will eventually create new roles, but the paper suggests otherwise for now. With 15% fewer managers, the career ladder is being dismantled before it's built. The AI-native startup is a beautiful, streamlined machine that runs on experienced hires and automated workflows. Just don't expect to land a junior role — or to climb any rungs. That's for the algorithm to manage. Cheers.