Cameron Sublett, senior director of innovation and incubation at FoundationCCC, which supports California’s community colleges, explained that job forecasting—with its direct implications for the postsecondary mission—has “always been a mad science,” and that AI disruption has added “so many more layers of complexity, confusion and noise.” Citing the economist David Autor, Sublett said that society is now in an “era of artificial intelligence uncertainty,” in which “history and secular trends no longer hold their predictive value.” Competing studies on AI’s labor-market effects regularly contradict each other, absent standard measures or methodologies, he continued. Shawn VanDerziel, president and CEO of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, agreed that “the current employment environment is challenging for job seekers and employers.” That’s due to the uncertainty around AI, but also the broader economy and policy shifts, including on tariffs, he said.