Letters | Tax companies that deploy AI, save Hong Kong graduates
Readers discuss the urgency of maintaining entry-level jobs, treating agentic AI like it is the Monkey King, and public transport safety
This plunge in graduate hires represents a structural transformation driven by artificial intelligence. As a university educator, I see this as an urgent wake-up call.
AI agents powered by large language models now automate the routine tasks that were the training ground of junior staff – web searching, file processing, code generation. Corporations delegate such work to AI under experienced supervision, eliminating the entry points where graduates learn their craft.
Universities must respond with concrete curriculum reform. They must train students to orchestrate and audit AI processes, not merely use them, so students may shift from task execution to high-level oversight.
Yet education alone is insufficient. The government must tax corporate AI deployment to fund subsidies for junior positions. Public companies, in particular, should recognise graduate employment as an ESG imperative – the S for social responsibility demands investment in workforce development, not just shareholder returns. Without maintaining mentorship pathways, we sever the pipeline that turns today’s graduates into tomorrow’s professionals.