For a long time, becoming a senior leader within an organisation took time. You began with the simpler work. You watched. You practised. You made small decisions before being trusted with larger ones.
The routine work was rarely glamorous. But it served a purpose. It was an apprenticeship of sorts. But AI is now removing much of it.
This is creating a strange new social contract within workplaces.
Junior employees are being given fewer opportunities to learn through routine work, while simultaneously being expected to demonstrate leadership, creativity, adaptability and sound decision-making much earlier in their careers.
PwC calls this the “seniorisation” of entry-level work. Their 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, released on 15 June 2026 provided an analysis of 2.4 million entry-level jobs and found that roles most exposed to AI are seven times more likely to require capabilities traditionally associated with senior employees. Leadership. Creativity. Adaptability.
Demand for these ‘seniorised’ entry-level roles has grown by 35 per cent since 2019. Other entry-level roles have declined by 10 per cent.
In effect, AI is compressing the developmental ladder. But the expectations at the top of the ladder remain. This leaves organisations demanding capability faster than they can cultivate it.
As Pete Brown from PwC observed, “AI is removing some of the routine work that once acted as an apprenticeship. At the same time, organisations are asking for judgement and leadership much earlier in people’s careers.”
AI is removing developmental work faster than organisations are replacing it with new learning pathways.
Last month, the World Economic Forum published an article titled The AI-related leadership crisis that’s only five years away – and how to avoid it. When AI absorbs repetitive work, organisations may gain efficiency while losing “the developmental pathway that produces competent managers and grounded leaders.”
That pathway cannot be replaced by another online module. People do not learn leadership by watching a video about leadership. They learn it by actively taking responsibility. They learn creativity by solving a problem that does not have an obvious answer. They learn influence by trying to bring others along with them. They learn adaptability when the first idea fails and they have to unexpectedly pivot. They learn sound decision-making when the consequences are real.
What is needed now is a developmental pathway designed for the AI era. One that builds agency, creativity, resilience and leadership through real contribution.
This is the role of intrapreneurial education. It turns the workplace into a setting where people learn to recognise opportunities, take purposeful action and create value. In other words, they learn to become intrapreneurs. They identify real problems or opportunities. They investigate. Engage stakeholders. Develop an idea. Test it. Overcome resistance. Refine their approach. Create something of value.
Through that process, they develop intrapreneurial agency, the capacity to turn possibility into progress through purposeful action.
Their work becomes the classroom. The organisation becomes the laboratory. People develop as they solve real problems and create real value. This is especially important for emerging leaders, graduates, new hires and early-career professionals. They need structured opportunities to practise initiative, creativity, collaboration and leadership in authentic workplace settings.
Intrapreneurial education provides that structure. It creates a modern apprenticeship for capabilities that AI cannot supply.
The Professional Certificate of Intrapreneurialism (PCI), the flagship program of the Global Intrapreneurs Institute, was designed around this approach. It has been successfully used in four countries and across multiple sectors and contexts. Participants build capability through activities embedded in their everyday work, then apply their learning to real intrapreneurial projects that deliver organisational value.
The Professional Certificate of Intrapreneurialism (PCI), the flagship program of the Global Intrapreneurs Institute, was designed around this approach. It has been successfully used in four countries and across multiple sectors and contexts. Participants build capability through activities embedded in their everyday work, then apply their learning to real intrapreneurial projects that deliver organisational value.
The organisations that benefit most from AI will not simply automate faster. They will BUILD PEOPLE faster. AI may be ‘seniorising’ work. The more urgent question is whether organisations are ‘seniorising’ their people.
For organisations committed to developing their people in the new era of work, the Professional Certificate of Intrapreneurialism offers a practical place to begin.
To explore how the program could support your talent development strategy, reach out to the team at GII at admin@gii.institute or send an inquiry through our website contact form.