While other CEOs freeze entry-level roles, this AI founder is hiring Gen Z with zero experience

Gen Z can’t catch a break. They’re struggling with mass unemployment as entry-level jobs vanish. Some 40% of bosses have admitted they plan to hire even fewer grads this year because AI can do the same job cheaper, preferring instead to keep only seasoned staffers on board. But at one AI company, the less experience you have, the better.

Alon Chen, founder and CEO of Tastewise—a generative AI platform trusted by PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Mars—is actively looking for Gen Zers with zero experience and no degree required. And he has a very specific reason why. 

“There are some positions where you actually want people that do not have the prejudice or the old way of working,” Chen tells Fortune. “because it’s just not relevant anymore.”

In the last few years, there’s been an explosion of new tools, job functions, and ways of working thanks to AI—and in his eyes, younger workers are the best place to take advantage of these.

“I’m hiring entry-level because they have no boundaries or limitations in how they think about the world. They’re almost like AI natives themselves, having been born and raised in this new realm of opportunities. And I see some of the best ideas coming from the younger generation that have not yet been in the job market.”

Is more experience less important in this new AI era?

Chen knows a thing or two about betting on unconventional talent. At 15, Chen had already started his own business, selling computers to thousands of........

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