If AI Does the Training Part, Who Learns the Job?

The short version: AI is quietly taking over the routine work that used to teach people their jobs. That changes how the next generation learns, how careers grow, and how businesses plan for what comes next. If you do one thing after reading this, bring one question to your next discussion with your children, your career, or your business. 

The Question I Keep Coming Back To

I’ll be honest, I’m not an economist. I’m the COO, Chief Operating Officer at Team Hewins. For more than 12 years, here and at our predecessor firm, my job has been how the work gets done: our operations, our systems, and, a big part of it, how our people learn and grow in their roles.

“So, when people ask me about AI, the question I keep coming back to isn’t “Which jobs will it take?” It’s “If AI does the work that used to train people, how does anyone actually learn the job?” 

The Work That Used to Teach Us

Here’s an example from our own industry. Young associates used to learn by sitting in client meetings and taking notes. It sounds like a small, basic task. But that’s how you learned to listen. You documented what a client was really worried about. You listened to how an experienced advisor handled a hard conversation, when they pushed and when they just let someone share. Nobody handed you a manual for that. You picked it up one meeting at a time.

Today, more of the industry is handing that notetaking to AI, but the associate who used to write them is losing one of the best classrooms they had. 

It’s Happening Everywhere 

Our clients see the same thing in their own fields. One client in health care asked us how new clinicians will build judgment when the charting and repetitive tasks that used to teach them are being automated. I think that’s exactly the right question, and I don’t think anyone has fully answered it yet.

The research points in the same direction. The Stanford Digital Economy Lab’s paper “Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence“ (revised August 12, 2026)¹Brynjolfsson, E., Chandar, B., and Chen, R. “Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence.” Stanford Digital Economy Lab working paper, revised August 12, 2026. finds that the early changes are showing up mostly among people at the start of their careers, in jobs where AI can do the routine tasks. The researchers are careful to call these early signals, not proof that AI is the cause, and not a prediction.

Rethinking the Human Pipeline

Every business runs on a human pipeline: people come in, learn the work, take on more tasks, and eventually lead, whether it be projects or people. AI can make each step faster. But if it quietly removes the steps where people learn, the pipeline runs dry. Ten years from now, where do the experienced people come from?

I think firms have to rethink that pipeline on purpose. Some of it is a choice about values. Doing it the human way can mean giving up a little efficiency today for a team that’s still strong years from now. Some of it is design. If AI writes the notes, maybe the associate still drafts the follow-up, or sits down afterward with the advisor and talks through what they heard.

Or maybe the role in the meeting shifts to a higher level of observation. Since a lot of our communication is nonverbal, an associate who can understand facial expressions and body language can provide a higher level of applied observation. This may be the enhanced human value AI can’t offer, yet.

Some professions are also looking at apprenticeship-style models again, where learning by doing is built in rather than leaving it to chance. The American labor market has noticed that it is able to teach the nuanced parts of the job. In our world, this applies to emotional behavior, for example, the handling of client concerns in times of volatility or how to celebrate life milestones.  

If Your Child Is Starting a Career 

I’ve spent time with intern candidates and students looking for jobs, and there seems to be more time spent trying to figure out what the right starting point is. They’re also worried about how to stand out when it comes to applications since AI may now be used for screening roles.

For what it’s worth, we don’t use AI to scan resumes at Team Hewins. When I look at one, I want a clean layout, relevant content, and something that tells me who this person is.

“Usually, it’s the human components that I think stand out a lot more. There’s a person, there’s a story, there’s something about that person that’s memorable. A lot of people focus on the what, not the why or the how.”

Telling me you have good organizational skills is something I hear all the time. Tell me why you want to do this.  What’s an anecdote that made you who you are today? What’s your money story? What makes you have a service mentality? If you can communicate that effectively, it helps you stand out.

If your child is in the middle of that search, help them find that story. And help them look for places that will truly teach them, where someone experienced will let them learn by doing. That may matter more than the title or the starting salary. It’s also fair to ask your advisor how to plan for supporting a child’s potential longer career launch.

Related: Your Children Left the Nest. What If They Boomerang Back? 

If You’re Still Working 

Roles will continually change and evolve. If you’ve been doing your job for a while, you carry the kind of judgment AI can’t easily copy, and the people coming up behind you need it. Teaching may become one of the most valuable things you do.

It’s also a good moment to think about what you want from the rest of your career. What are the triggers that would cause you to re-evaluate your retirement date, to make it longer or shorter? If you can name those now, it’s a lot easier to calmly adjust as you go. 

If You Own a Business 

If you’re handing your junior team member’s learning tasks to AI, or hiring fewer of them, it’s worth asking who will be running things in ten years. For a business owner, that’s a succession question, and it’s tied to what the business may be worth to the next owner.

The question I’d start with is: What role does human connection play in your business, and how important is it that it stays present? If your clients stay because of relationships, the people who carry those relationships forward must be developed somewhere. 

Whose Side Is the AI On?

The Stanford Digital Economy Lab has a project called Loyal Agents²Stanford Digital Economy Lab. “Loyal Agents,” a project with Consumer Reports., done in collaboration with Consumer Reports, that asks a good question: when an AI assistant acts on your behalf, is it working for you or for someone else?

Before you let an AI tool act on your accounts or give you financial suggestions, I’d ask three things. Where is this information going, who or what is influencing the decision, and does it fit me?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to be able to use a tool like this to help prompt information at mass scale. We even have clients ask financial related questions to AI, but they still want us to opine on the accuracy and whether it fits what we know about them. I think that’s the right instinct. Ultimately, can you say with certainty that the answer fits you?

As a fiduciary, Team Hewins must always act in a client’s best interest. AI does not have that requirement. It gives you an approximate answer that may answer your question, but it doesn’t consider who you are or your circumstances.

Even though tools can help generate all this information, clients want to know from someone who knows them that they’re going to be okay. And it’s hard to replicate that from algorithmic output.

What concerns me is when people become too comfortable – just going with whatever comes out, they make decisions that aren’t aligned with who they are.

How We Use AI Ourselves 

We are using AI for straightforward tasks and research. A human in the loop, our team members, always serves to fact-check the output. That matters. A separate Lab paper, “Social Group Bias in AI Finance,”³Stanford Digital Economy Lab. “Social Group Bias in AI Finance.” points out that AI models used for high-stakes financial decisions can carry bias without careful oversight.

Personally? I think it can assist with research or brainstorming well (setting aside agentic questions). I’ll use it to compare pros and cons when shopping for electronics or planning a trip itinerary. What I find challenging is when the output always “looks” right. Therefore, you do have to always have your thinking hat on. Even if it’s wrong (hallucinates), it can look right. 

A Few Steps to Protect Your Family 

Many of the AI questions we hear are about privacy, data breaches, and scams. A few simple steps go a long way: 

1. Watch what you share. Be mindful of what information you share online (including social media).
2. Freeze your credit with the three credit bureaus, so a fraudster can’t easily open accounts in your name if your information turns up in a breach.
3. Pause. The best line of defense is your own ability to ask questions and pause before acting. Ask a friend if it’s too good to be true. If receiving an inbound call, hang up and call the reputable number you know is always a safe bet. Be careful when clicking links in e-mail.
4. Pick a family code word. The FBI recommends creating a secret word or phrase with your family to verify identity.⁴Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial Fraud.” Public Service Announcement I-120324-PSA, December 3, 2024.
   

We are implementing code word/phrases at Team Hewins too. We’re trying to really help our clients think through: is there some sort of phrase or memory that they can turn back to to verify to us that they are who they are? That cannot be AI-generated or researched by AI. All the factual things are pretty much out the door. A pet’s favorite activity, a shared memory, a phrase only we would know.

Related: October Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month 

The One Question to Bring to Your Next Discussion 

You don’t need to become an AI expert. Pick the one question that fits you and bring it to your advisor: 

1. How should we plan if our child’s career takes longer to launch?
2. What would make me move my retirement date, earlier or later?
3. Who’s going to carry my business relationships forward, and how will they learn? 

If you’re a Team Hewins client, bring the question to your next meeting or give your advisor a call. Ready for a new advisor? If you’re looking for a proactive partner and want to explore what a seamless transition looks like, our team would be glad to start a conversation.

Team Hewins, LLC (“Team Hewins”) is an SEC-registered investment adviser; however, such registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training, and no inference to the contrary should be made.  We provide this information with the understanding that we are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or tax services. We recommend that all investors seek out the services of competent professionals in any of the aforementioned areas. Certain information provided herein is based on third-party sources, which information, although believed to be accurate, has not been independently verified by Team Hewins. Team Hewins assumes no liability for errors and omissions in the information contained herein.