TL;DR

Some UK employers are creating graduate jobs built around running AI agents, a BBC report published on 4 November finds, even as AI is blamed for wider cuts to entry-level hiring. The new roles offer early responsibility. The open question is whether graduates also pick up the craft of their profession, on which the people quoted disagree, and the report offers no evidence either way.

Lotte Underwood, 25, is an “AI associate” at London PR agency Fight or Flight, where a dedicated team has built about 30 agents. She spends much of her time managing them and checking what they produce, and watches how clients appear in tools like ChatGPT. Dillan Patel, 24, went from intern to AI automation analyst at Coventry’s Stride. Cian Clinton, 23, at consultancy Valliance, says he now carries responsibilities that “would usually take me four or five years to get to”.

Employers see a reason beyond novelty. Debra Maxwell, chief executive of ArvatoConnect, has paused this year’s graduate intake but plans to bring it back next year with “AI-disruptor type roles”.

The evidence is American

The report’s main data point comes from PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer, and readers should note its base: 2.4 million US entry-level jobs. On that analysis, junior positions most exposed to AI have become seven times likelier to ask for traditionally senior skills. Such higher-expectation roles grew 35% from 2019, while other entry-level jobs shrank by 10%. No UK equivalent appears in the report, so these figures do not tell us the size of this trend here.

Two views of what a graduate needs

Portman Finance Group’s Simon Pratt represents the sceptics. His two-year scheme rotates graduates through four areas on what he calls “learning the trade”, from credit papers to running deals. PwC UK’s technology and innovation chief, Claire Reed, warns that “AI skills on their own are not going to help you in your career” without sector knowledge. Underwood herself says she still wants to pitch directly to the media, something she has not yet done.

In our view, Clinton’s remark that AI “is killing the ‘pyramid’ approach” is the claim UK professional firms most need to test. A graduate who gains seniority quickly by directing agents may still lack the judgement the old apprenticeship was meant to build, and that may not show for years. It also matters how many such jobs exist: we have reported on Adzuna’s graduate vacancy figures, and a handful of case studies cannot show whether these roles replace lost volume. Employers designing these roles could build in rotation from the start, as Portman does, rather than choosing between the two models.