Artificial intelligence tools are reducing Australia’s academic standards and being used to automate some entry-level jobs, leading to fewer roles available for recent university graduates, a Senate inquiry has heard.

A committee examining the rise in the number of Australian university graduates who "struggle to find work after graduating" began in March, led by Western Australian independent senator Fatima Payman.

The first batch of public submissions received by the inquiry, published online this month, saw several current and former university students voice their concern over AI’s impact on learning and the entry-level job market.

Nassar Zaytouni, a director at a logistics company who holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in ICT, told the inquiry of his worries about “the systemic dilution of academic standards and the resulting vulnerability of Australian graduates in an increasingly AI-driven economy”.

Zaytouni suggested there is a “graduate employment crisis” partly driven by AI, as course content is simplified and more employers begin to use AI to automate tasks which may have otherwise been done by recent graduates.

“When universities fail to teach critical thinking and complex problem-solving, and AI automates the ‘low-value’ tasks ... the window for on-the-job training vanishes,” he wrote in his submission.

“We are left with a workforce that lacks both the fundamental academic grit and the opportunity to develop professional expertise.”

‘AI usage should not be tolerated’

An anonymous submission from a person purportedly studying a Masters in Financial Technology at the University of New South Wales suggested universities should not allow students to use AI technologies, given reportedly high rates of cheating and studies identifying impacts on learning.

“Al usage should not be tolerated,” they wrote.

“It's already bad enough that these Al tools allow students to cheat so easily, because research has shown that outsourcing your thinking to these chatbots has a real, detrimental impact on learning and cognitive ability.”

ICT engineering graduate Zaytouni worried that “AI will erase the reasons for companies to hire new graduates” and urged the Senate inquiry to recommend curriculums be rewritten to become “AI-resilient”.

“Immediately review course materials to ensure they focus on ‘high-order’ human skills that cannot be replicated by AI, moving away from template-based assessments that are now obsolete,” he recommended.


The Senate inquiry into university graduates is led by WA independent senator Fatima Payman. Image: Fatima Payman / Facebook

Mijica Lus, a migrant and university graduate who works as a policy advisor, told the inquiry that, “While Australian universities provide strong academic foundations, there is a growing gap between theoretical learning and practical workplace readiness.”

“This is particularly evident in the context of rapidly evolving labour markets and the increasing influence of technologies such as AI,” she said.

Lus recommended that universities be supported to “better align course delivery with evolving workforce needs, including the impact of technologies such as AI”.

'Hiring practices should be looked at’

Senator Payman was unable to be reached for comment about AI, but recommended in her own submission to the Senate inquiry that the federal government “introduce a standalone act governing artificial intelligence, particularly with regard to its use in the workplace” – which it has declined to do.

Payman wrote that “the job market, particularly at the entry level, has become increasingly imbalanced in favour of the employer”.

“Generative artificial intelligence is just one part of this,” she said.

“Hiring practices should be looked at.”

Several Australian companies told a government study published in 2025 that they had begun to hire fewer junior staff amid the generative AI boom.

A survey of more than 1,000 Australians aged 15–24, released on Wednesday by careers platform Anyway, KPMG Australia, and Microsoft, found 63 per cent of respondents believed AI would mostly eliminate jobs, while only 35 per cent expected it to create new jobs in equal measure.

The combination of potential overreliance on AI for learning and fewer opportunities to gain real-world experience worried some people who made submissions to the Senate inquiry.

Hamid Osmani, a full-time IT manager and part-time Masters of Cybersecurity student at RMIT University, told the inquiry of his concern that some students without industry experience mistakenly believe that a degree alone will get them a job.

“In reality, breaking into the cybersecurity field without prior experience is extremely difficult,” he wrote.

“While cybersecurity continues to be promoted as a high-growth industry, entry-level opportunities remain limited.

“The most viable pathway is through graduate programs, and even these opportunities are declining with the increasing adoption of AI and automation.”

Submissions to the Senate inquiry are set to close on 5 June, and the committee is expected to deliver its final report and recommendations to the government in late November.