The article argues that the signaling power of a college degree is weakening as AI reshapes hiring today. Employers want graduates who can ship fast, coordinate AI tools across workflows, and apply human judgment with customers. Degree titles matter less than proof through projects and outcomes, which creates a trap for new grads who need jobs to earn the experience that jobs now demand.

It reframes the college choice for students and families as a cost-benefit problem. College can still buy time, networks, and a portfolio, but tuition and debt make prestige a risky default when nondegree paths can offer stability. The piece argues firms must stop treating graduates as liabilities and build clear training pipelines to create "AI-ready" talent. Even that is incomplete without policy that protects living standards as the degree-to-job pipeline breaks.

In my last article, I discussed how companies and policymakers can step in to help in an AI-driven labor market. What about educational institutions? While students themselves can develop skills to prepare, educational institutions can play a role in guiding them on which skills to develop.

A college education implicitly promises increased access to career opportunities and higher earnings. But students often don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to preparing for careers. Upon entering college, they usually can’t name the particular skills they’ll need to succeed as, say, a data scientist. Instead, they place their trust in key college courses to provide relevant material.