University of Michigan business dean warns that AI deployment for efficiency is eliminating early-career job opportunities even as young people drive innovation

Jeff DeGraff, dean of innovation and professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, told Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit that young people are creating innovation outside traditional corporate structures—including efforts to cure river blindness and build animal walkways—but society has not adequately prepared them for the AI transition.

Companies are primarily deploying AI for efficiency rather than breakthrough innovation, which DeGraff said will eliminate entry-level jobs that historically served as a first step for young workers entering the workforce.

Recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 face unemployment at 5.6% compared with 4.2% across all workers, and job postings are down 2% compared to last year and down 12% from pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and early-career hiring platform Handshake.