Australian university students are questioning whether artificial intelligence will replace their future careers before they enter the workforce.

A 2026 report by Safe AI and the Minderoo Foundation found Australians under 30 have the highest level of concern for their careers compared to other age groups.

The research found 48 per cent of Australians consider the future of employment more important than issues such as misinformation and data collection.

WA Data Science Innovation Hub director Alex Jenkins says there are concerns about how students will gain experience in an AI-driven workforce.

“I understand them, because how are graduate employees going to gain experience in the workplace if AI is capable and doing the jobs they would do,” he says.

He says it’s difficult to predict what the world or careers are going to look like in an age where artificial intelligence can perform many tasks humans can.

Curtin University career development consultant Stuart Hunter says graduate jobs are most at risk.

“Entry level jobs are the ones that are more likely to be impacted and are the ones that AI could be replicating,” he says.

He says predictions vary but about 6-7 per cent of jobs globally could be replaced by AI.

Curtin student guild vice president and engineering student Hadiya Naeemi says automation is a general concern amongst herself and other university students.

She says some traditional mechanical engineering tasks may become less common.

“When I talk to parents who were engineers, the things they do versus what we study now is so different because automation has taken over a lot of the mechanical and electrical things they used to learn about.”

She says reskilling and adapting degrees to have a better understanding of AI’s role in the workforce is one-way students can respond to these concerns.

Mr Hunter says understanding how AI works gives more control to students who may be concerned navigating future careers.