When AI Cuts Entry-Level Jobs, Who Builds the Senior Workforce?

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Companies cannot remove the bottom rung of the career ladder and expect a senior workforce to appear five years later. Shabbir Qutbuddin of Ivy Tech Community College joins Jason to talk about the 13 percent employment decline experienced by workers ages 22 to 25 in highly AI-exposed occupations, and what colleges, employers, and students can do about it.

The answer reaches beyond adding another AI 101 course. They discuss Ivy Tech's AI pathways, apprenticeships, project-based learning, opportunities inside small and midsized businesses, and why students need to understand what happens under the hood of an AI model. The conversation also gets personal: sycophantic chatbots can feel easier than human relationships, but easy agreement comes with a cost.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Shabbir Qutbuddin is an Assistant Vice President at Ivy Tech Community College whose work spans information technology, entrepreneurship, and business education. He helps connect curriculum, employer demand, AI training, and workforce pathways for students across Indiana.

GUEST LINKS

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shabbir-qutbuddin/
Ivy Tech Community College: https://www.ivytech.edu/
2026 Ivy Tech IT Challenge: https://www.ivytech.edu/programs/signature-opportunities-for-students/2026-ivy-tech-it-challenge/

TIME STAMPS

00:00 - From India to Purdue and Ivy Tech
04:05 - Why students booed an AI commencement speech
09:41 - The shrinking entry-level job market
13:27 - Building AI pathways across Indiana
17:56 - Why small businesses need young technical talent
24:48 - Putting AI into the DNA of K-12 curriculum
27:12 - Using AI to learn instead of copy
35:49 - Sycophancy, trust, and human relationships
43:26 - RAG works only when the data work gets done
52:38 - Prompt engineering, curiosity, and experimentation
58:52 - The 2026 Ivy Tech IT Challenge

CONNECT WITH JASON PADGETT

Director of Growth and Partnerships at CitizenAI
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Available for interviews and keynotes on AI in education → jason@mycitizen.ai

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Canaries in the Coal Mine: https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/publication/canaries-in-the-coal-mine-six-facts-about-the-recent-employment-effects-of-artificial-intelligence/
Stanford research on sycophantic AI, March 2026: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/03/ai-advice-sycophantic-models-research
Ivy Tech AI Incubator Network: https://www.ivytech.edu/about-ivy-tech/newsroom/news/all-locations/2022/ivy-tech-community-college-joins-ai-incubator-network-to-meet-future-workforce-demand/
TechPoint: https://techpoint.org/