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Elyssa Lopez · · 5 min readAI transforms entry-level work in SEA, but new grads stay hirable
Jofie Yordan also contributed to this report.
Two years ago, Paul Rivera had to bring in interns to handle social media for his startups, job recruitment platform Kalibrr and skincare clinic Remedy. Now, ChatGPT can generate an entire month’s worth of content in seconds.
Despite that, Rivera has not allowed AI to take over any full-time roles in his companies.
It’s a stark contrast to the US, where fresh graduates are staring down a brutal job market as AI squeezes out opportunities.
A recent paper from Stanford University showed that between 2022 and 2025, entry-level positions for software developers and customer service representatives in the US fell by almost 20%.
Some companies are not hiring new graduates for entry-level positions at all, opting to support existing staff with AI chatbots instead.
AI isn’t the villain of the story yet in Southeast Asia, but the technology is rewriting what entry-level work looks like. Across the region, hiring platforms report double-digit jumps in postings that now demand AI skills.
Image credit: Timmy Loen
“Requiring an AI skill today would be like requiring employees to be adept with Microsoft Office,” Vic Sithasanan, managing director at Jobstreet Singapore by Seek, tells Tech in Asia.
The cost factor
Only 19% of enterprises in Southeast Asia have integrated AI into their operations, according to an IDC study. Jobstreet Singapore found that as of 2024, AI adoption among SMEs in the city-state was just at 4%.
The number may be even lower in the Philippines as one in five SMEs have not even digitalized operations.
“AI isn’t taking over jobs because employers haven’t really adopted it,” Joseph Ilagan, director of the BS Information Technology Entrepreneurship (ITE) program at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) tells Tech in Asia.
Cost is the primary barrier.
“ChatGPT premium may be peanuts for an SME in the US. But for an SME in the Philippines, US$20 is not nothing,” says university lecturer Ranel Cheng. He co-wrote a report about AI adoption in the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
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From high costs to lagging digitalization, we explore why SEA employers are still hiring fresh grads instead of letting AI take over entry-level jobs.
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