- Thoma Bravo's billionaire founder says AI has made young people's jobs 'greater' and 'broader.'
- "They're spending a lot less time doing models or comparables than before," Orlando Bravo told CNBC.
- Young people not in education, employment, or training jumped to over a million in May, official data shows.
Thoma Bravo's billionaire founder says AI will transform junior workers' roles by eliminating grunt work, despite growing concerns about the technology's impact on entry-level roles.
Orlando Bravo, the founder of software-focused private equity firm Thoma Bravo, discussed how the role of junior associates is changing as the company increasingly utilizes AI, in a conversation with CNBC's
Annette Weisbach at the SuperReturn conference in Berlin on Tuesday.
The jobs of junior associates will become greater, and they'll "mature a lot quicker," Bravo said. "They're spending a lot less time doing models or comparables than before...overall, now they really get into investing operations and a much bigger way of thinking about business."
"I bother them a lot less, because at midnight I can do something really quickly with AI instead of [comparables], instead of calling them to do it in the middle of the night, which improves their life anyway, which is what they want," he added.
The comments come amid growing concerns about youth unemployment, with
recent data showing the number of young people not in education, employment or training in the U.K. increased to over a million in the first four months of the year.
"For young people, AI is going to be amazing, and I'm very, very upset that some people say that it'll destroy entry-level jobs," Bravo said.
"If you define the role of an associate as just doing a spreadsheet, you don't need that, but our associates are now calling on companies a lot more. They're developing relationships with CEOs, and we need a lot more of them."
Bravo explained that it's the first time in his 30-year career in private equity where he has needed to hire more, as AI creates more work.
While some like Bravo are more bullish on AI's capacity to create jobs, there have been a slew of AI layoffs in the past year, with the technology behind over 50,000 layoffs in the U.S. in 2025. Major firms like
Salesforce, IBM, and Microsoft cited AI as a reason for job cuts.
As young people struggle to secure jobs, the U.K.'s technology secretary Liz Kendall said the government is focused on upskilling young workers on AI by providing free courses to help boost employment.
"We will help people through the jobs transition, we will give people the skills, we'll redesign those entry-level jobs," Kendall said in a conversation with CNBC's
Ritika Gupta on "Squawk Box Europe."
"We've got a goal of upskilling 10 million workers by 2030. That is a third of the workforce, and already we've delivered 1.7 million AI skills courses. The truth is this: you're more likely to get a job and get a better-paid job with AI skills, and that is why we're putting such emphasis," she added.<small>Source: CNBC</small>
Business
AI will help young workers 'mature' faster by automating grunt work, Thoma Bravo says, amid youth job crisis
CNBC
June 10, 2026
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