AI is taking over the entry-level work—and no one feels responsible anymore
For Oddny.eu, we spoke with Marije de Haas, Head of Program for the Master’s in Digital Design at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, about an uncomfortable reality in the creative sector. Design and architecture firms are hiring fewer and fewer interns and junior staff. Not because there is a lack of talent, but because that talent simply seems less necessary. AI is doing the work. Fast, cheap, and without a learning curve. But with that, something fundamental is disappearing: the start of a career.
The influx is drying up (and no one is stepping in)?
“For years, the agency world operated on a seemingly self-evident pyramid: a broad base of juniors, with mediors above them, and a compact group of seniors at the top. That structure is now under pressure and crumbling rapidly.
What was once entry-level work—the engine of development and talent building—is being rapidly automated. Generating variations, fleshing out sketches, and creating visualizations—tasks that previously required time, guidance, and young talent—can now be accomplished with a single prompt. The impact extends beyond efficiency alone. The foundation of the sector is shifting. Fewer internships. Fewer entry-level positions. Less natural progression. This not only jeopardizes the influx of talent but also the learning path through which craftsmanship traditionally developed.
For firms, this touches on a broader societal question: how do we still train new generations if the beginning of the learning curve disappears? And what does that mean for the future of the profession, the diversity of perspectives, and the resilience of the sector as a whole? That is precisely why it is strikingly quiet. While the changes are fundamental, a collective response has yet to emerge.”
Is efficiency winning out? Is craftsmanship losing ground?
“What we’re seeing isn’t a sudden revolution but a quiet shift. Efficiency is being optimized, but craftsmanship is being eroded. Because where do you learn the trade anymore, if the “training ground” disappears? Without room to make mistakes, without repetition, without the slow development of feel and judgment, a generation emerges that must perform without ever having truly been allowed to learn. That is not an innovation problem. That is a training problem.”
A forgotten responsibility?
“This is where the real problem lies. Because who still feels responsible? Agencies optimize for speed and profit margins, and increasingly view training as a cost center. Meanwhile, educational programs largely continue to prepare students for a world that is changing at breakneck speed. And students? They have to reinvent themselves, without a clear starting point or direction. The traditional chain—learning, entering the workforce, advancing—is not just changing. In some places, it has simply disappeared.”
Time for a new deal between education and the professional world?
“If the traditional route disappears, something must take its place. Not as a fringe experiment, but as the core of how the sector organizes itself. That calls for different questions than we’re used to. Not just what a student needs to be able to do, but also how the professional field is structured to make that development possible.
How does in-depth learning still relate to direct market preparation? To what extent are agencies willing to play a role again in training talent? And why does the dialogue between education and practice so often remain incidental, rather than structural? Without that recalibration, everyone continues to optimize within their own bubble—and the problem only gets bigger.”
From hierarchy to ecosystem?
“Perhaps we need to stop thinking in terms of linear careers. The classic ladder, from junior to senior, is losing its obviousness. What’s replacing it seems more diffuse but also richer. Young designers organizing themselves outside traditional agencies. Hybrid learning-working models in which AI is not a replacement, but part of the process. Practices that revolve less around hierarchy and more around collaboration. In such a system, the role of the designer themselves also shifts. Not just a creator, but also an initiator. Not just an executor, but also an entrepreneur.”
The real question!
“The discussion about AI often focuses on what we gain.
But this is what we risk losing: a generation that has never really been able to learn the craft.
So the question isn’t whether AI will take over entry-level work.
The question is: who will then take responsibility for training designers?”