Graduates Are Running the AI-But Missing the Trade?

A new kind of graduate job is emerging, and it's built around managing artificial intelligence rather than doing the traditional work of the field.

Take Lotte Underwood, 25, a public relations executive who spends more time using AI than actually doing PR. She joined London-based agency Fight or Flight last November as an "AI associate" after a degree and a marketing masters. She's part of a dedicated AI team that has built around 30 AI agents handling industry research, client reporting, media interview preparation, clearer client briefs and image generation. A big part of her job is managing those agents, checking their outputs, and monitoring how clients appear in responses from tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

She's not alone. Dillan Patel, 24, joined engineering software company Stride as an intern 18 months ago and is now an AI automation analyst, building internal agents and spotting repetitive tasks AI could take over. ArvatoConnect CEO Debra Maxwell says its usual graduate intake is on hold this year, but she plans to resume next year with a bigger focus on AI-disruptor roles. PwC's 2026 AI Jobs Barometer, which analysed 2.4 million US entry-level jobs, found the roles most influenced by AI are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior skills, and those roles have grown 35% since 2019 while other entry-level roles shrank 10%.

But does AI-heavy work leave graduates learning their actual trade? Underwood admits she hasn't yet had the chance to pitch directly to media, though she plans to. Simon Pratt of Portman Finance Group says his firm's two-year programme is fully centred on "learning the trade". PwC UK's Claire Reid warns that AI skills alone won't carry a career-they must be coupled with sector knowledge.