ChatGPT-5’s arrival exposes major blindspots in workforce development

Since 2018, OpenAI’s sophistication has advanced with each release. Sam Altman’s pursuit is clear - Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - a system capable of independent reasoning and replicating the full breadth of human cognition.

Yet ChatGPT-5’s arrival is not the AGI breakthrough. In fact, far from it, today’s model remains firmly in the domain of “Narrow AI”, reliant on fixed datasets to generate outputs. 

With every leap in AI development, I see two emerging blind spots in workforce strategies:

First, the disappearance of junior talent roles threatens to dismantle future leadership and talent pipelines. 

Second, an overreliance on AI risks eroding essential workforce skills such as analytical thinking and independent problem-solving. A recent MIT study found that brain activity dropped by 47% when people used ChatGPT for writing. 

If we fail to consciously develop the skills and talent that form competitive organizations, we may create a more compliant, yet intellectually disengaged workforce.

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AI is crumbling the foundation of talent pipelines 

For decades, entry-level roles have served as the incubators of organizational expertise. But OpenAI’s latest release, uniting the capabilities of its previous models to enhance memory retention, is reshaping that foundation. Tasks once reserved for junior roles in consultancy, coding, and customer service are increasingly automated, bringing efficiency, but also risk.

Between 2024 and 2025 hiring for entry-level roles in European tech firms dropped by 73.4%. In an aging workforce, eliminating junior positions does more than cut costs: it fractures the pipeline that develops future senior talent and delays a labor crisis that grows inevitable with every automated process.

Some leaders may gamble that AGI will eventually replace senior expertise, but the stakes are profound. Such a strategy overlooks the human capital necessary to navigate ambiguity and exercise judgment beyond algorithmic outputs.

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AI decreases cognitive activity by 47%  

As AI entrepreneurs push for AGI, the danger is not only job displacement, but cognitive and motivational erosion. When algorithms interpret, decide, and problem-solve on our behalf, they diminish people’s analytical and creative capacities.

MIT’s study revealed that not only does people’s brain activity drop by 47% when using ChatGPT, but they produce homogeneous results. In effect, AI is killing the unique ideas humans are capable of producing. 

But the risk extends further: organizational psychology tells us that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the basis of motivation. Over-reliance on AI threatens all three, leaving employees efficient yet intellectually disengaged.

Microsoft’s recent research, analyzing 200,000 interactions within Bing Copilot, offers a glimpse into where cognitive displacement is occurring. Particularly in sales, computer science and finance, Copilot is most used for information gathering, writing, and communication. While these tasks can be automated, they are also the activities that sharpen analytical reasoning.

For HR leaders, building workforce resilience requires embedding cognitive and soft-skill development directly into talent strategy. This means:

• Preserving entry-level roles that demand analysis and judgment rather than automating them.
• Upskilling core human capabilities such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making to ensure AI complements human expertise.
• Incentivizing intellectual curiosity through cross-functional projects and peer learning to keep employees engaged.

These combined efforts will create a workforce that is not only AI-savvy, but also resilient, motivated, and capable of sustaining long-term organizational performance.

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A commitment to human potential and resilience 

Resilience in the age of AI is not mere endurance. Unlike the demands of Covid-19 requiring us to withstand economic shock, today’s challenge is the inverse: channeling the opportunities of technology into sustained human development.

HR and business leaders are tasked with preserving entry-level roles and the human cognitive skills that make AI’s outputs meaningful. Without this, we risk creating a generation proficient in operating AI, yet incapable of thinking beyond it.

Our responsibility as leaders is not only to future-proof organizational performance, but also to develop the people whose potential will define the future of work.