By Liliana Shadlow · Contributing Writer
Grove City students are divided on AI’s role in business and concerned that this ever-advancing technology will negatively affect their employment opportunities.
Potential interns at the E+I Preview Night Sept. 3 came to find job opportunities and make business connections. However, the event became an educational experience for many, as students experienced AI’s increasing influence on the job market.
Attended by a wide range of employers, Preview Night included businesses with vastly different approaches to AI use. From Ella and Roo Boutique, a clothing store built on giving customers a personal, attentive shopping experience, to Hardly, a platform used for writing resumes, cover letters and job applications entirely through AI, employers gave students a chance to see how both business methods could be practiced.
Hardly’s approach, however, garnered a mixed response, with some students worrying that more AI would mean fewer employment opportunities.
Mason Smiley, a freshman business economics major, said AI is “a big issue” within the realm of business.
“Part of business is the personability,” Smiley said. “I feel like (AI) would take away jobs from people who need them, and I don’t know if I’m necessarily on board with that.”
In contrast, some attendees, such as Juan Carlos Bravo, a senior double major in business management and communication arts, see AI as an inevitable addition to the workplace.
“AI is here to stay, and I think it’s best to embrace it,” Bravo said.
While Bravo acknowledged that he didn’t always think so and worried it would become a “liability” that people would become dependent on, he concluded that “AI has good potential.”
Junior Joseph Xu, a computer science major, agreed.
“From my view, I think every company should implement some sort of AI because of how much better it is for their productivity and overall work environment,” Xu said.
This strong mix of opinions can make it difficult for employers to gauge how the future generation will handle working in an environment saturated with AI.
Roger Harris, the CEO and co-founder of Hardly, feels that many people, college students included, don’t understand how the business world uses AI.
“(As a programmer), a lot of people think you can just use AI to build you an app, and it will work perfectly,” Harris said. “That’s not necessarily the case. … It’s more figuring out how to use AI as a tool to better assist you.”
Harris acknowledged that AI would replace some jobs, but he also asserted that the use of AI would open a whole new job market.
“Once AI does take over these jobs, there’s going to have to be someone to manage the AI,” he said.
While whether Preview Night will ever feature openings for “prompt engineer” or “algorithm specialist” is uncertain, it is clear discussions on AI in the job market are far from over.
Students who attended Preview Night should apply to the E+I Fellows Program by Sunday to be eligible for an internship interview with the organizations present at the event.
