AI may have lowered employment for college graduates in exposed majors, study says

The researchers built an exposure metric using Anthropic’s Claude task‑mapping and Lightcast job‑posting data, then linked it to administrative records from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission. The same exposure also made four‑year graduates 1.4 percentage points more likely to enroll in graduate school within a year, though most stayed in the same discipline. Undergraduate enrollment in highly exposed majors fell 4.8 % between fall 2024 and fall 2025. The authors caution that the findings indicate a correlation, not a definitive causal claim, and note that the long‑term returns to further education in AI‑exposed fields remain uncertain.