AI Poised to Replace Skilled Academics at One in Five German Companies, Ifo Data Reveals
18.06.2026 - 09:45:17 | boerse-global.de
A sweeping survey of nearly 3,000 German firms conducted in May paints a stark picture: one in five businesses now considers artificial intelligence capable of replacing academic professionals. In the retail sector, the figure jumps to over 28 percent. The findings, published by the Ifo Institute, signal a fundamental shift in how companies view the role of skilled human labour.
Yet the drive to substitute experienced employees with less experienced, AI-supported workers is more measured. Only 15 percent of the surveyed companies plan such a swap. More than 55 percent see it as difficult or outright impossible. The hesitation stems partly from the very technology that is reshaping recruitment.
AI-Generated Resumes Are Slowing the Hiring Pipeline
A separate investigation by the staffing firm Robert Half underscores an ironic friction. In Canada, 61 percent of HR leaders reported that AI-generated résumés slow down the hiring process; in the United States, roughly 65 percent of hiring managers agreed. The reason: AI tools churn out polished but interchangeable application documents that require far more time to evaluate.
“Reviewing such applications takes considerably longer,” says Sven Hennige of Robert Half. The result is a greater reliance on human judgment during the preselection stage—precisely what automation was supposed to reduce.
Companies Rethink the Selection Playbook
Some employers are already rewriting the rules. Momox, a Berlin-based recommerce platform, has partnered with d.vinci and Aivy to adopt new assessment methods. Instead of poring over standardised CVs, the company now focuses on candidate behaviour and individual potential.
The shift extends beyond document scrutiny. Data from Talentmagazin shows that the share of job ads explicitly targeting career changers has sextupled since 2019. Firms are increasingly prioritising concrete skills over formal degrees—a trend that aligns with the growing use of AI in screening.
A Paradox on the Global Stage
The transformation is not limited to Germany. In Switzerland, roughly 28 percent of all jobs—about 850,000 positions—face high exposure to AI. Administrative, financial and legal roles are the most vulnerable. Yet analysts project a demographic gap of 148,000 workers by 2029, suggesting that displacement may be offset by retirements and new demand.
The PwC Global Job Barometer reveals a curious paradox: occupations with the highest AI exposure are actually growing faster. Where automation bites hardest, new job profiles tend to spring up. Expert Sohrab Salimi draws a historical parallel: the introduction of spreadsheet software eventually expanded the labour market, not shrank it.
Advice for Applicants Navigating the New Normal
Career coach Silke Grotegut and AI specialist Marcel Zimmermann warn that job seekers often trip up when using generative tools. Feeding a model generic prompts without personal details—or skipping an authentic back-and-forth with the tool—produces the kind of uniform content hiring managers now dread.
Their recommendation: treat human and machine as a single unit. Individuality remains the decisive criterion, especially in a landscape where a single vacancy can attract up to 250 applications. In the race against AI-generated blandness, being distinctly human may be the strongest advantage.
