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Graduate job listings have dropped by 17 per cent – a sign that AI is already gobbling up large parts of the job market, starting with entry-level jobs. As the first fully AI legal firm is approved, Zoë Beaty looks at the bleak landscape students are facing as the traditional career ladder is kicked away from them

T

he rituals unfold as they always have: hushed shuffling inside a stuffy exam hall, nervous energy silently bouncing off the walls; an impossibly loud clock, counting down to impending doom. This week, up and down the country, rows upon rows of students will sit hunched over their desks clutching “lucky” pens; praying that their hard work has been worth it. It is, of course, A-level season, which, done right, is supposedly the coveted, golden road to university, graduate jobs, money and a life lived right.

Yet, this year feels a little different.