Former Meta AI Executive Launches Nonprofit to Save Gen Z Jobs Before Artificial Intelligence Wipes Them Out
The job market is changing faster than most people can keep up with, and Gen Z is right in the eye of the storm.
While an entire generation tries to take its first career steps, entry-level jobs are vanishing at breakneck speed — and a big part of that shift has a name: Artificial Intelligence.
That is exactly what Clara Shih, a former AI executive at Meta and Salesforce, witnessed firsthand, up close, in a way that made her rethink everything.
She watched AI agents outperform her best employees across multiple tasks while, at the same time, hearing from friends and acquaintances about kids who graduated from top U.S. universities and simply could not break into the workforce.
The collision of those two realities triggered something she described as a feeling of radicalization.
But instead of sitting on the sidelines, she decided to act — and the answer came in the form of a nonprofit called New Work Foundation, with a consumer-facing brand called Dear CC, built specifically to prepare the youngest generation for a world where AI is no longer a trend but the new standard.
Clara’s story raises questions that go way beyond technology:
- What happens to people entering the workforce right now
- How AI is rewriting the rules of the professional game
- And what it really means to be prepared to work in this landscape
Let’s break it all down. 👇
What Clara Shih Saw From Inside Meta That Changed Everything
Clara Shih is not some distant observer of the Artificial Intelligence phenomenon. With more than 20 years of experience in the field, she lived through the evolution of AI from the inside, serving as one of the top AI leaders at Meta — one of the most influential companies in the world when it comes to technology and automation. And it was precisely that front-row seat that forced her to confront a reality that was impossible to ignore.
The turning point came last fall, when AI agents developed by Meta began matching and even surpassing highly skilled human professionals across a range of tasks. This was not science fiction. This was not some market analyst’s speculation. It was the daily reality of someone working at the epicenter of technological innovation.
In her own words, shared with Fortune magazine: In that moment I knew nothing would ever be the same. You feel radicalized in that moment when you see it working.
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At the same time she was watching this progress unfold inside the corporate world, Clara was hearing stories from the other side of the coin. Recent graduates from prestigious universities — including Ivy League schools — with resumes that would make any recruiter look twice, simply could not land a job. Not because they lacked effort, not because they lacked formal qualifications, but because the positions that used to exist — junior roles, entry-level gigs, learning opportunities — were disappearing. And the replacement was happening quietly but steadily, driven by the very technology she was helping to build.
That tension between two worlds — rapid innovation on one side and young people who cannot find a foothold on the other — was the trigger for a profound shift in perspective. She felt compelled to take a clear stand on the issue. It was no longer possible to celebrate AI breakthroughs without looking at the human impact they were creating, especially on Gen Z, which was entering the workforce at the exact moment it was being structurally reconfigured.
Clara, who is no longer head of AI for business at Meta but remains a consultant to the company, summed up her motivation plainly: I realized that the only way to help people keep pace with AI was to give them AI tools. Because if you use the traditional pathways, it’s simply not fast enough to keep up with how quickly AI is advancing.
Gen Z and the Job Market That Did Not Wait for Them
Gen Z — the generation born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s — grew up connected, adaptable, and with a far more natural relationship with technology than any generation before it. But that familiarity with smartphones, social media, and digital tools was not enough to shield them from a transformation that goes well beyond casual tech use. The job market this generation found waiting after college is radically different from what existed a decade ago, and the speed of the change did not give education systems and professional training programs enough time to keep up.
So-called entry-level jobs — the positions that exist specifically to let professionals without experience learn on the job — are among the most vulnerable to Artificial Intelligence automation. Repetitive tasks, basic data analysis, customer support, simple content production, document screening — all of these functions that once served as a gateway for young professionals are being taken over by AI systems with growing efficiency and shrinking costs. The practical result is an entire generation competing for a smaller pool of real opportunities for learning and professional growth.
The data backs up this perception. According to a recent ZipRecruiter report, many Gen Z workers are exploring alternatives to the traditional corporate ladder, including entrepreneurship, freelance work in the gig economy, and even trade schools. The threat of AI-related layoffs, combined with a slowdown in entry-level openings, is pushing a lot of people to completely rethink their career choices.
And the problem is not just about numbers. It is qualitative, too. When someone starts their career in an entry-level role, they learn not only the tasks themselves but also how a workplace functions — how to relate to colleagues and managers, how to solve problems under pressure, how to grow professionally. If those opportunities vanish, an entire stage of human and professional development disappears with them. Gen Z is not just losing jobs — it is losing the chance to build the foundation that would allow growth in any career. 🤔
The Nonprofit Born From a Real Sense of Urgency
Clara Shih’s answer to all of this was to found the New Work Foundation, a nonprofit with a direct focus on preparing young people for the new job market landscape. The initiative includes a consumer-facing brand called Dear CC, and it starts from a simple but powerful principle: if Artificial Intelligence is changing the rules of the game, the solution is not to ignore that reality or resist it — it is to learn how to play by the new rules.
That means going beyond traditional technical skills, teaching young people to understand how AI works, how to collaborate with it, and how to use these tools to amplify what is uniquely human — the things no algorithm can replicate with the same quality.
The nonprofit’s focus is squarely on Gen Z, on the young people in that transition phase between school and their first real job. The goal is to offer practical, accessible AI education — not from the perspective of a developer or systems engineer, but from the standpoint of a strategic user, someone who needs to understand enough to make good decisions, automate what can be automated, and channel their energy into what truly makes a difference.
Practical Tools for People Who Are Job Hunting
The New Work Foundation did not stop at talking points. Right out of the gate, it launched AI-powered tools aimed directly at people trying to break into the workforce. One of them is the Field Report, which gives candidates a detailed look at the current state of their professional field of interest.
For example, when searching for a career in Law, the Field Report shows that there are roughly 31,500 open positions in the United States. Competition is relatively low, but the risk of AI automation is rated as very high. That kind of information allows a young person to make more informed decisions about where to focus their efforts.
Another tool is JobClaw, an AI agent designed to help candidates find positions that match their strengths and personal interests — without even requiring a finished resume. All you have to do is fill out a quick five-question form about who you are and what you are actually looking for in a career. The tool does the heavy lifting of cross-referencing information and suggesting opportunities aligned with your profile.
This approach is especially interesting for people who are just starting out and do not yet have a strong resume to present. Instead of demanding prior experience — something Gen Z increasingly struggles to accumulate — the system prioritizes potential, interests, and natural abilities. 💡
The Diverging Views on the Future of AI in the Workplace
The debate about how Artificial Intelligence will impact the job market over the next few years is far from settled. Opinions among tech industry leaders vary widely, and that range of perspectives helps illustrate just how complex the situation is.
On one side, there are those who see a pretty tough road ahead. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has publicly stated his belief that AI will disrupt half of all white-collar jobs. We are not just talking about manual or repetitive work here — the threat extends to professions that were historically considered safe, like law, accounting, consulting, and even creative fields.
On the other side, there are more optimistic takes. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia — one of the companies benefiting the most from the AI boom thanks to its graphics processors — believes the technology will work alongside human professionals rather than necessarily replacing them. In his view, AI could even enable more hiring as new roles and demands emerge around the technology.
The truth probably lies somewhere between those two extremes. Some jobs will disappear, others will be deeply transformed, and many that do not even exist yet will emerge. The central point Clara Shih keeps driving home is that regardless of which scenario plays out, anyone who knows how to use AI agents strategically will have a massive advantage over anyone who does not.
Clara was blunt about it: If you want to find a job and you want to keep your job, you need to learn to get really good at using AI agents.
The Data Showing That Using AI Already Makes a Career Difference
Clara Shih’s take is not based solely on personal perception. Recent data supports the idea that professionals who embrace Artificial Intelligence in their daily routines are standing out in the corporate world.
A survey conducted by enterprise AI platform Writer found that employees who actively use AI in their day-to-day tasks are more likely to receive promotions and salary raises compared to colleagues who refuse to adopt the technology. This data point is significant because it shifts the AI conversation from something abstract and futuristic to something very concrete and present: those who use it advance in their careers. Those who ignore it fall behind.
This creates an interesting dynamic in the workplace. It is no longer just about having a degree from a good university or racking up years of experience. The ability to integrate AI tools into your workflow is becoming a real, measurable competitive edge — one that employers increasingly value.
Gen Z’s Paradox With Artificial Intelligence
Here is where things get even more complicated. Despite being the most digitally native generation in history, Gen Z is growing increasingly skeptical of Artificial Intelligence.
A recent Gallup survey showed that Gen Z’s sentiment toward AI has become significantly more negative compared to the previous year. In other words, the very generation that needs AI the most to stay competitive in the job market is the one pushing back hardest against the technology.
The reasons for that distrust are varied — concerns about privacy, fear of job displacement, ethical questions about how systems are trained and used. And Clara Shih acknowledges the validity of those concerns. In fact, she goes further: she argues that the people who have moral objections to AI are exactly the ones who should be involved in the process.
The people who have moral objections to AI are actually the people I want involved, making sure we steer these systems in the right direction, Clara said.
That perspective matters because it reframes the dominant narrative. Instead of treating skepticism as irrational resistance to progress, it recognizes that critical voices are essential to ensuring AI develops responsibly and ethically. Adopting the technology and questioning its impact do not have to be mutually exclusive — they can and should coexist.
What Being Prepared for This New World Actually Means
When we talk about being prepared for AI, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that means learning to code or becoming a machine learning specialist. But the reality is quite different. Most professionals who will live alongside Artificial Intelligence every day are not going to build systems — they are going to use them. And that requires a mix of critical thinking, clear communication, creativity, and above all, the ability to ask the right questions.
After all, AI is only as good as the instructions it receives, and anyone who can communicate clearly and think in a structured way has a huge advantage in this context.
For Gen Z, this represents a real opportunity — but it needs to be seen as one. The generation that grew up consuming digital content, navigating multiple platforms, and adapting to constant change has a profile that, with the right guidance, can fit the new job market remarkably well. The challenge is turning that natural adaptability into recognized professional competence, and that comes down to practical, accessible initiatives focused on what truly matters for people who are just getting started.
The landscape is complex, but it is not a dead end. The job market is shifting, jobs are transforming, and new roles are appearing at a pace that would be impossible to predict with precision. What can be said with confidence is that indifference is the worst path forward. Anyone who understands what is happening, seeks real knowledge about AI, and develops the ability to work with these tools strategically comes out ahead.
As Clara Shih made clear, the future of work is moving forward with or without Gen Z’s buy-in. The only choice left is whether this generation will actively participate in the transformation or get steamrolled by it. And Clara’s story shows that this kind of awareness can come from unexpected places — even from inside the companies that are accelerating the change the most. 🚀
