Twenty-one percent of chief human resources officers say at least one business leader in their organization has stopped hiring for entry-level roles because of AI automation, according to a fourth-quarter 2025 Gartner survey of 110 CHROs.
The finding suggests that AI is reshaping the entry-level job market more quickly than many anticipated, even as most companies have yet to see meaningful returns from their AI investments.
Gartner found that 95% of organizations had deployed some form of AI over the previous year. Only one in five reported achieving significant or transformational business value from those efforts.
The impact on entry-level hiring
Entry-level roles have long served as training grounds for new employees, giving them a place to learn basic skills, build professional networks, and understand how a company operates. As AI takes over some of those routine tasks, companies may have fewer positions where beginners can develop.
Kaelyn Lowmaster, director analyst in the Gartner HR practice, warned against eliminating these roles entirely to cut costs.
"Organizations that respond by cutting their early career talent pipelines altogether risk creating significant workforce challenges down the road," Lowmaster said. "Instead of eliminating these early career roles, organizations should redefine them to enable earlier contributions to higher-value work and build the talent they will need in the future."
Redesigning roles for an AI-enabled workplace
Gartner recommended that HR leaders move entry-level employees into tasks requiring more judgment, problem-solving, and human decision-making. That approach aligns with AI for Human Resources strategy, which emphasizes matching technology use with talent development rather than headcount reduction.
But shifting employees into more complex work requires support. "Traditional development approaches are no longer sufficient in an AI-enabled environment," said Meaghan Kelly, director analyst at Gartner. "Organizations can't rely on gradual skill-building through routine work. Instead, they must provide the support structures that allow early career employees to operate effectively in more complex, judgment-intensive roles much earlier in their careers."
Gartner suggested companies consider an AI Learning Path for CHROs to help leaders design workforce strategies that blend automation with talent development.
The cost of cutting entry-level jobs
Removing entry-level positions may also bring costlier problems later, Gartner said. Without enough internal pipeline, companies may have to hire experienced talent from outside, paying a premium for skills they could have developed internally.
The firm also pointed to adaptability as a critical skill for workers entering the market. A December 2025 Gartner survey of 3,086 employees found that workers were 3.8 times more likely to feel prepared for AI-driven change when they had a foundation of adaptable skills.
Why this matters for HR professionals
The pressure to use AI to cut costs is real, but Gartner's data suggests that simply removing entry-level roles leads to long-term talent gaps and higher eventual costs. HR leaders should focus on redesigning job functions so incoming workers take on valuable work earlier. That means identifying which tasks AI can handle, which still require human judgment, and where new employees can immediately contribute at a higher level - or risk losing a generation of internal talent.
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