'Under 25, You Can Be Making a Million': Companies Are Paying Up to Seven Figures to Hire 'AI-Native' Recent College Graduates Firms like Scale AI, Roblox, and Databricks are hiring people under 25 due to their ability to use AI.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Some recent college graduates are getting hired with six- and seven-figure salaries, as long as they are "AI-native," or familiar with AI.
- Databricks, a data analytics company, is paying some workers under 25 up to seven figures.
- AI training platform Scale AI pays base salaries of $200,000 a year for recent college graduates.
Forget "digital native," the term that refers to those who began interacting with digital technology at a young age. "AI native" is the new label getting entry-level college graduates six- or seven-figure salaries right out of school — and it's all about capitalizing on young workers' ability to use AI.
According to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal, though the unemployment rate for entry-level workers as a whole was 4.8% in June, higher than the 4% for all workers, companies are still hiring college graduates with AI experience.
Data analytics firm Databricks, for example, is hiring three times as many recent college graduates this year than last year because of their ability to use AI. The company's CEO, Ali Ghodsi, told The Journal that some junior staff members having a "big impact" are getting paid a million dollars — and they're under 25 years old.
"They're going to be all AI-native," Ghodsi told the outlet, referring to the college graduate hires. "We definitely have people, quite junior people, [who] have a big impact, and they're getting paid a lot. Under 25, you can be making a million."
Databricks' careers page shows that an entry-level AI research scientist working in New York City or San Francisco can make anywhere from $150,000 to $190,000 in base salary.
Ghodsi isn't the only tech leader using the term "AI-native." Scale AI, an AI training service that received a $14.3 billion investment from Meta in June, pays employees right out of college salaries of $200,000 per year, according to The Journal.
Scale AI's Head of People, Ashli Shiftan, told the outlet that Scale AI was "eager to hire AI-native professionals, and many of those candidates are early in their careers."
Meanwhile, at Roblox, a virtual gaming platform, machine learning engineers with little to no experience can earn more than $200,000 annually, according to salary site Levels.fyi.
Related: Here's How Much a Typical Microsoft Employee Makes in a Year
The market for those with AI experience is divided into two categories, Stanford University Professor of Computer Science Jure Leskovec told The Journal. The first refers to some doctoral students who complete Ph.D. studies in machine learning and AI and receive large offers from companies without any experience.
The other category encompasses programmers who use AI to become more effective, increasing their value on the job market.
"It's almost like a next generation of a software engineer," Leskovec told the outlet.
