Viral videos expose the sad truth about teens getting a job at 14

It's annoying for us, but is it detrimental to our kids?

By now, we’ve all seen the clips of AI infiltrating the fast food space.

At both KFC and Hungry Jacks - as seen in two now-viral videos - trials are being conducted using AI chatbots in place of people in the drive-thru windows.

For a long time, people have been worried about AI taking jobs in things like editing, finance and data analysis - but do we have to be worried about our kids?

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

Image: TikTok / @pnuks.

RELATED: Cafe’s ‘clever’ way of offering diners a discount

“It has made my wife and I nervous for what additional challenges our children will face”

An Aussie dad has taken to Reddit after seeing the viral videos of AI being employed in drive-thrus, saying it’s made him and his wife nervous for the future of their kids.

“After seeing the video going viral yesterday of Hungry Jacks using AI at the drive through, it has made my wife and I nervous for what additional challenges our children will face (aged 4 & 3 currently),” he wrote.

“Not only will it be challenging to own a property, now we are questioning how they will be able to gain the same experience we did working our first jobs. I started working at Domino's when I turned 14 and it gave me the foundation for my whole working life dealing with customers and other challenges in a fast paced environment. This included receiving bomb threats and employees being spat on for minor inconveniences.”

The man said that if he’d known what AI would become, he may have even reconsidered having kids in the first place - asking the comments what to do next.

“If we had known AI was coming and at this fast pace in combination with many of the other challenges we probably would have reconsidered bringing them into the world,” he said.

“What is everyone else's thoughts on this? I am supportive of AI when used to make workflow more efficient however I am against it replacing roles entirely…”

RELATED: People are insuring their Labubu amid rise in thefts

"How do they ever learn the value of a dollar or gain experience?"

Many commenters agreed with the man, saying that the lack of fast food jobs in the future would be a huge loss to their children.

“I grew up on a farm and worked there until I went to university at the age of 18, it was impossible to find a job because I had no experience doing anything apart from driving tractors and growing spuds. If AI takes all the junior roles from our 14 year olds, how do they ever learn the value of a dollar or gain experience in anything retail/customer service before they leave home? I had some hard lessons and struggled in my 20s because I didn't know how to budget properly with a minimum wage job. AI is useful but should also be adopted with caution,” one commenter shared.

“If fast food jobs disappear then better jobs for those kids won't magically be created, the kids will just be fighting for a smaller and smaller pool of entry level jobs that are gradually diminishing. For every 100 people that lose a fast food job, maybe hypothetically 1 tech position to manage the AI food servers will be created, and those jobs typically won't be accessible for fast food workers,” another pointed out.

“As fucked up as fastfood jobs can be they give a lot of people an income, independence, teach people social and life skills and give them a start on their resume to move on to better jobs. If it gets harder and harder for young people to enter the workforce then I think it's going to stunt kids even more than technology is already doing.”

@pnuks

Rip teenagers wanting a job at @Hungry Jack’s 🥲😅💀 ai aijobs hungryjacks hungryjacksfreeglass work employed drivethru

♬ original sound - pnuks

“Your kids would be far better off having their first working experiences be elsewhere”

Others, however, disagreed, saying it might be a good thing for these kinds of jobs to be taken out of kids’ hands.

“I worked in fast food and retail as a teenager and there is no way I would put my kids at risk of sexual harassment, assault, and verbal abuse just to instill a vague sense of work ethic and independence. I think AI is honestly the best way forward for these places given the general public clearly cannot behave in a safe and appropriate manner towards the 14/15yos that work there,” said one commenter.

“Your kids would be far better off having their first working experiences be elsewhere,” said another.

“Personally, I'm pretty stoked that my kids won't have to be spat on or deal with bomb threats as at 14 to earn some money,” a third agreed.

Is it just... normal?

Plenty, though, were also more neutral, saying it was simply a sign of the times.

“I’m not quite old enough to have seen this happen with computers but I feel like a similar thing must have happened when computers became affordable and widespread. Lots of jobs were replaced but new ones were also created. Same with the printing press, readers etc.” one commenter said.

“I don’t love AI and I think it’s in hype mode right now and that it’ll calm down a bit but while it might look different to what we did growing up I think teens etc will still have options. Hell they’ll probably use AI to make their own jobs and make $$.”

“Did you work as a milk delivery kid like your parents? Did you work in a mine as a kid like your great grandparents? Your children's life experiences will be different to yours,” another agreed.

“I'm being bold in this next sentence as we are strangers, but your job is to raise your children in a loving environment and give them the tools, as best as you know how, to flourish as happy human beings. Hope you raise them to be happy is job #1.”

Originally published as Viral videos expose the sad truth about teens getting a job at 14