Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says he'll hire college graduates heavily for being 'AI native'

Billionaire Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says his company will 'go heavy' on hiring graduates because 'they're so much more AI native' than older peers | Fortune

Face-faced college graduates are watching the American Dream be swept out from underneath them, and entering a gloomy entry-level job market pillaged by AI automation. However, not every company is reeling back hiring young professionals in favor of the tech tools; Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says his business is actually ramping up its recruiting of the digitally-savvy generation. "The kids coming out of college right now learned how to program with AI," Huffman said recently during the Sourcery with Molly O'Shea podcast. "They're really good at it, and so I think we will go heavy on new grads, because they're so much more AI native." While some CEOs marvel over the abilities of chatbots and AI agents, recent graduates are actually ripe for the new tech-driven world of work: the digital natives grew up with the internet, and spent most of their higher education in the ChatGPT era. They're deeply familiar with the technology and are much more apt to leverage it in their work. And the cofounder of the $26.7 billion social media empire says that propensity is actually a gift: older generations are more resistant to automating their craft, even if it's for the better. "It's the old people like me, it's like I didn't want to give [coding] up. I finally did," the 42-year-old millennial CEO explained. "The younger people don't have that baggage. They just write with AI." Tech workers may be nervous that their AI use will lead to their inevitable displacement -- but Huffman was resolute that the tech won't reduce the company's engineering headcount. A Reddit spokesperson also underscored to Fortune that its emerging talent team focuses on recruiting young professionals, also offering new grad opportunities and internships developing essential skills like machine learning, data science, and computer science. While the tide seems to have shifted away from tech companies recruiting college talent before graduation, Huffman warned that could be a costly mistake. The billionaire says employers need to hire graduates "right out of the gate," or risk having to pay them 100 times more down the line. "There are so many reasons to hire new grads," Huffman continued. "If you don't hire them as new grads, you will never see them. They will never be on the job market again. They're too valuable to ever let them be on the job market." As companies enforce sweeping layoffs and reel back hiring, entry-level graduates are contending with a fierce labor market. The proportion of unemployed Americans who are first-time workers hit a 37-year high in 2025, hitting a peak of 13.3% in July before tapering down to 10.6% last month. And some CEOs even believe the percent of unemployed college graduates could skyrocket within just a couple of years. However, there's a vocal cohort of leaders who won't leave Gen Z out in the cold -- and in fact, their inexperience is sometimes seen as an asset. Echoing Huffman's point that Gen Z doesn't come with "baggage," Ricardo Amper, the founder and CEO of $1.25 billion software company Incode Technologies, believes Gen Z's naivety is exactly what businesses need to innovate. They aren't held back by preconceived notions of work or a professional mindset shaped by decades of career experience. "My belief [is] that coming out with a fresh mind, first principles, is important. That's why young people are particularly helpful in tech, because they're less biased," Amper told Fortune earlier this year. "I think too much knowledge is actually bad in tech: you're biased." Even if employers believe that AI agents can take over the jobs of their young employees, automating their roles could do long-term damage. Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky, has warned against shutting Gen Z professionals out of the workforce because the consequences are stifled innovation and a lack of talent ready to step into millennial's and Gen Xer's positions. "[AI] can do a lot of lower-level, more entry-level position jobs. But if no young people can get jobs, then you have no one in the future to do the highly strategic leadership positions," Chesky told ABC News in a 2025 interview. "So we need to make room for people early in their careers, even if AI can do the interns' work." Plus, some CEOs like Mark Cuban even argue that it's an opportune time for Gen Z to seize the moment. Older generations less skilled with AI will need to learn how to implement the tools effectively -- and that's where young digitally-savvy workers step in. "Learn all you can about AI, but learn more on how to implement them in companies," Cuban advised young workers during the TBPN podcast in 2025. "Learn to customize a model, walk into a company, show the benefits. That is every single job that's going to be available for kids coming out of school."

Reddit CEO Says He Plans to 'Go Heavy' Hiring Recent Grads. Here's Why.

His stance contrasts with wider fears that AI will wipe out entry-level, white-collar jobs. As AI advances, leaders have spoken out about its ability to replace entry-level work in finance, technology and analytics. Now, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is flipping that dominant narrative. He argues that winning companies will be the ones that scoop up early-career talent instead of automating entry-level work. Huffman said on a recent episode of the Sourcery with Molly O'Shea podcast that he wants to "go heavy" on hiring new graduates because he sees them as "AI native" workers who have an advantage over older hires. They learned to work alongside AI tools, making them especially productive. "The kids coming out of college right now learned how to program with AI," Huffman said. "They're really good at it. It's the old people like me... I don't want to not write code anymore. The younger people don't have that baggage, they just write with AI." Huffman's "AI native" label reflects a belief that today's new graduates grew up with generative AI, from ChatGPT to Midjourney, and instinctively use these tools in their work. In his view, this AI expertise makes them well-suited to work at a company like Reddit, which is embedding AI into products. For example, the company launched Reddit Answers a year ago to answer questions with an AI response based on what users are saying. Reddit is also selling its data to AI giants like Google and OpenAI. Huffman said that top new graduates are rarely on the market for long -- if Reddit doesn't hire them right away, they are gone to other employers and may never be available again. He framed AI not as a headcount reducer, but as a force multiplier that lets engineers and other employees build products more quickly. Huffman is making a push into entry-level work at a time when many white-collar workers, especially students, are worried about AI taking over junior roles in fields like software engineering. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, a $380 billion AI company, predicted last year that AI would wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs by 2030, causing unemployment to rise as high as 20%. He added that there is a "need to warn the world" about AI replacing entry-level jobs, and predicted that AI would fully take over writing code for companies this year. He isn't the only one issuing warnings. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of AI for his pioneering work in developing the technology, said in June that AI will "replace everybody" in white-collar jobs. He predicted that a person using an AI tool would take over the work of ten people. Regardless of the current climate, Huffman said he will continue to hire new graduates, especially in engineering. "Let's say AI makes our engineers 50%, 100% or even 10 times more productive," he said on the podcast. "We'll just build more stuff. Not do the same amount with less."