# AI and the Future of Work: Assessing Occupational Social Status Perceptions Among University Students

## TL;DR

University students have mixed views on how AI affects job status, seeing it as both a threat and an opportunity, with implications for career choices and education.

## Contribution

The study reveals how AI influences students' perceptions of job status and highlights contradictions between their attitudes and employment trends.

## Key findings

- Students attribute occupational status to personal ability and hierarchy rather than AI.
- Positive AI attitudes correlate with pursuing routine cognitive jobs.
- AI has an inverted U-shaped effect on status indicators, with non-routine jobs maintaining higher ratings.

## Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly reshaping labor market structures and occupational value evaluation systems. As a core group about to enter the workplace, university students’ perceptions of occupational social status are crucial for their career development and the alignment between education and the labor market. Study 1 explores how layoff risks and AI as a threat shape status evaluation. Study 2 investigates how AI’s role in jobs alters perceptions of status indicators and cognitive work type. The results show that students primarily attribute occupational social status to personal ability and organizational hierarchy rather than AI; A more positive attitude toward AI is associated with a greater propensity for pursuing routine cognitive occupations in the future; AI exerts an inverted U-shaped influence on occupational status indicators, with non-routine cognitive occupations experiencing an earlier decline in status but still maintaining higher ratings than routine cognitive occupations. These findings indicate that university students hold an overall positive yet contradictory attitude toward AI’s impact on occupational social status, which is inconsistent with actual employment trends. Therefore, researchers and policymakers should provide more comprehensive guidance to help students understand and adapt to AI-driven changes.