Are South African companies doing enough to create entry-level AI jobs?

At the moment, the investments that organizations across myriad sectors are making in AI are well documented. is about current passion agentic aiBecause businesses want to empower employees with more multimodal AI-powered solutions to boost productivity.

However it remains to be seen whether the investment will actually have the impact that many locally are hoping for. sales force Asking a more important question.

Namely, whether business leaders in South Africa are doing enough to ensure entry-level AI jobs.

In an op-ed shared with Hypertext, ursula fear (pictured above), a senior talent program manager at Salesforce, says local leaders need to prepare new professionals for the roles of the future.

Citing the latest figures about unemployment in South Africa, which stands at 31.4 percent (7.8 million people), Fear said it is completely understandable, “With all the speculation about AI taking over entry-level jobs, it's no surprise that young South Africans are worried about starting their careers.”

“Even graduates are not untouched, the graduate unemployment rate is 10.3%, and year-on-year comparisons show the rate is rising, not falling. In this already stressed labor market, AI is now automating entry-level tasks that have historically been the first rung on the ladder,” he highlights.

What's rather refreshing is that Fears said that when it comes to the paradigm-shifting impact of AI in the workplace, the responsibility is no longer just falling on employees, but also on business leaders. For some time now, the rhetoric around AI has been not that it will replace jobs, but rather that jobs without AI skills will be replaced by those that do.

Here, Fears emphasizes that business leaders need to take an active role in ensuring that their new opportunities are being opened up, not closed down, by AI.

“This moment demands honesty from business leaders: Yes, AI is eliminating some traditional entry-level tasks, and yes, changing the path of professional work. But as was the case before the advent of the Internet, AI does not mean less opportunity, if companies are committed to creating new roles that combine human judgment with AI capability. The shift is not from employment to unemployment. It is from execution to decision,” Fear said.

He stressed, “And South Africa, with its young population and urgent need for meaningful job creation, has more to gain from getting this right than almost any other economy on the continent.”

The challenge/opportunity, according to the Salesforce executive, is that organizations need to focus on decision making, as AI and automation make the execution of tasks instantaneous. Thus, those who are able to make better informed decisions with the assistance of AI will be the difference makers going forward.

“The emerging skill set focuses on evaluation and direction: assessing whether an AI-generated customer proposition reflects the right brand tone and ethical positioning, finding gaps in AI-generated financial models, and asking follow-up questions that unlock new strategic directions. These are not technical skills. They are human skills, advanced by AI collaboration,” explained Fear.

Using early 2025 World Economic Forum reportHe further said that 170 million new roles are projected to be created globally this decade, and the fastest growing roles require humans to direct, evaluate, and provide ethical oversight over AI systems.

“The South African context makes it more urgent, not less. If the decision-based, AI-augmented roles that define the agentic age are designed only for those who already have access to quality education and digital infrastructure, then the technology simply reinforces South Africa's existing geographic and socioeconomic divide. It is a choice, and a business leader chooses it by design or by default,” Fear continued.

“When AI handles data gathering, report formatting, scheduling and first-draft creation, the justification for limiting new hires to those tasks disappears. And when AI handles execution, new hires are on board with strategic thinking from day one. Success is now focused on impact and contribution, not on proving yourself through months of routine tasks,” he pointed out.

As far as how the local private sector plays a role here, Fear highlighted what has been done so far, particularly when a concrete commitment is made, with the creation of the Youth Employment Service (YES) Over 209,000 quality work experiences Since inception, and is contributing R12.3 billion to the economy through youth wages to date.

“The same energy now needs to be directed at redesigning those roles within the agentic enterprise… South Africa has no shortage of people capable of that thinking. It needs business leaders committed to creating roles that will let them prove it.” He concluded.

Could such a stimulus be promoted in the coming months, especially as the cost of living continues to rise alongside the general Indifference towards work in SAremains to be seen. Salesforce believes there is a clearly defined path forward, and hopes other organizations will do the same.

(Image – Provided)