How AI Will Affect Education and Careers

Alannah Schebella, Staff

February 10, 2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly growing in popularity in today’s century and will greatly affect our future. AI refers to different computer systems developed to mimic or replicate tasks that require human intelligence, to help with efficiency.

Ginni Rometty, the former CEO of IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) said, “AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.”

In other words, humans will have to work with AI in order to advance. AI is the future of our Earth and is in our hands.

One way AI will affect our future is in school. Students are usually not encouraged to use AI, but it does have some pros. AI can personalize learning for students, provide efficiency, help them study for tests, and provide immediate feedback, allowing them to recognize their learning styles and strengths. Nonetheless, AI can harm students’ learning and their knowledge. One of the big problems with using AI for assignments is that it can cause plagiarism, especially if the student isn’t thinking critically and instead uses tools like ChatGPT to write their assignment for them. This can affect students in the long term as well. If they are relying on AI to help them, they won’t learn information or even know how to learn efficiently (like taking proper notes). Additionally, when AI isn’t available, for example on a test, students would greatly struggle. AI’s information is also not always accurate, which hurts them when they solely use AI for information or use it to learn, potentially leading to incorrect content.

Additionally, AI will also affect jobs. AI won’t take over all jobs at the same time. First, it will take over jobs like customer service, banking, and research-based jobs, which we can already see today. However, jobs that require empathy and creativity will be hard for AI to replicate, such as teaching, writing, artistry, nursing, and even law.

Even though AI can be efficient in replacing certain jobs, it also poses a risk of unemployment if it continues to replace certain roles. However, it also creates new job opportunities, such as an AI ethicist, who makes sure that AI is developed ethically and doesn’t pose harm to humans. Additionally, an AI prompt engineer, one who designs clear prompts for AI to provide answers for, is another job created by AI. However, even though AI engagement provides other jobs, it continues to cause unemployment, and the jobs it generates are extremely specific and require certain, newer degrees. This information affects people all over the world, especially students who are still choosing their career paths, including those at SRV.

A survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse’s Student Voice series shows that, over the past couple of years, AI has influenced what students are choosing to do job-wise for their future dramatically. The survey came back with the results that only 35% of the Class of 2024 were affected by AI in choosing what they wanted to study. On the other hand, 64% of the Class of 2027 said that AI has affected their academic goals, and 61% said that AI has influenced what they want to do in the future. This makes sense, as AI began booming a couple years ago and will continue to grow rapidly. Overall, the majority of students in both the Class of 2024 and the Class of 2027 expressed interest in learning the ethics of AI and how to use it in the workplace. This demonstrates how AI is playing a big part in students’ lives and could help them in the future. Some students are leaning towards more technology-based careers, to try and work with AI, but if these careers are drastically different to their original plans, they have a disadvantage.

To gather more insight on how AI affects students and their career choices, specifically at SRV, I interviewed Mrs. Harding, the college and career counselor at SRV.

Questions:

How does your knowledge on how AI affects careers change how you advise students about choosing their future careers?

See question 3

What careers do you think are at risk of being replaced by AI?

Short answer, yes some jobs will be replaced by AI. However, I don’t think it is cause for panic. Progressing technology has always put some jobs at risk, and society has adapted. Farm technology led to fewer farm-hand jobs. More recently, self-service machines have led to fewer cashier jobs. Those jobs shifted elsewhere. And as technology continues to grow in its ability to perform rote tasks, I anticipate an increase in jobs that are more thought and solution oriented as well as requiring lengthy specialized training and a decrease (but not elimination) of simple task and interaction type jobs. It should be noted that as technology’s abilities increase, the definition of “simple” task and interaction jobs is expanding.

Have students’ career path choices changed over the years due to AI and how it affects them in school/ their futures?

I see AI as a progression of an already established career trend. For years, Computer Science was the go-to major for those interested in technology. Then Data Science (which uses computer science on a larger scale) became the major of choice. Now, AI is the major du jour. In 10 to 20 years, there will probably be a new major that builds on AI.

My advice for students who are interested in AI is the same as it has been for decades for tech students: pursue what you are interested in, excited about, and good at. Build a strong foundation of knowledge, maintain flexibility, and specialize strategically because tech changes so quickly that your future career may not even have a name yet. For each generation, the next big job in tech couldn’t have been anticipated beforehand. There wasn’t a Computer Science major before computers, there weren’t Social Media Managers before social media, and there wasn’t an AI major before Artificial Intelligence became an achievable goal.

Do you advise students to use AI responsibly to help them with their college applications? If so, what are the benefits of using it?

I dissuade the use of AI in college applications, specifically essays. The current state of AI is to create an essay that could pass for one written by a human. That essay isn’t going to impress college admission officers. The objective of the college essay is to give the reader a glimpse into who you are, what makes you unique, and includes personal insights and supporting details–all of which AI cannot replicate… at least not at this time.

Overall, AI is and will continue to greatly affect our lives, especially through academics and careers. So what can we do to be prepared? Firstly, be flexible and open to new roles that can make you more familiar with AI. Next, continue learning about AI and using it to your benefit. Lastly, continue to communicate and interact with people in order to foster AI into your life for your benefit while continuing to communicate with others. AI will continue to become more advanced and grow, but if we work with it it can help us change our world for the better.