Gleb Tsipursky: Laconia’s career pathways need an AI mentor dividend

To The Daily Sun, 

Laconia is already teaching young people that careers are learned by doing. The city’s out-of-classroom career programs connect students with community workplaces, and Lakes Region Community College is building work-and-training pathways into skilled careers.

Employers should carry that same logic into the AI era.

Stanford researchers using ADP payroll data through June 2026 found that employment among U.S. workers ages 22-25 in highly AI-exposed occupations was about 19% below where it would have been if it had kept pace with similarly aged workers in less-exposed occupations. The adjustment is showing up mainly through reduced hiring.

The answer is to automate routine preparation without deleting the first rung of the career ladder. Let AI draft the first schedule, summarize the file, or assemble the basic analysis. Then give junior workers the tasks that build competence: checking the output, handling exceptions, talking with customers, testing assumptions, and making supervised decisions.

Every employer that saves hours with AI should create a mentor dividend. Put some of those hours into coaching and review, and measure how quickly new hires reach independent competence. Laconia is already showing young people the value of hands-on learning. Local employers should make sure AI expands that learning instead of squeezing it out.

Gleb Tsipursky

Columbus, Ohio