Companies are replacing entry-level jobs with artificial intelligence — and, in the process, are upending the traditional route to career advancement for many young, white-collar workers , according to labor and AI experts.

Typically, new entrants to the job market do grunt work with relatively low stakes — think research or data entry jobs, for example. They acquire skills over years while working alongside more seasoned colleagues, ultimately becoming experts themselves and climbing into managerial roles.

This "expert-novice" approach to skill-building has existed for 160,000 years, said Matt Beane, author of "The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines" and an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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