EP 611: The Last Lectures: Why colleges still running from AI in 2025 will eventually die
🎯 Summary
Podcast Episode Summary: EP 611: The Last Lectures: Why colleges still running from AI in 2025 will eventually die
This episode of the Everyday AI Show presents a “Hot Take Tuesday” arguing that the traditional US higher education system is facing an imminent collapse due to its failure to adapt to the rapid advancements and integration of Artificial Intelligence. The host, Jordan Wilson, posits that colleges actively resisting or poorly managing AI integration risk obsolescence and eventual closure by 2025 and beyond.
1. Focus Area
The primary focus is the existential crisis facing US higher education (colleges and universities) driven by the widespread adoption of Generative AI (like ChatGPT) in the workforce and the resulting disconnect between academic output and employer needs. Secondary topics include the declining perceived value of a college degree, rising tuition costs, and the emerging AI skills gap.
2. Key Technical Insights
- LLMs Outperform Core Academic Functions: The fundamental premise is that Large Language Models (LLMs) are now inherently superior to the average human in tasks that traditionally formed the core of college curricula—memorizing facts and applying logic based on known data.
- Instructor-Led Policy Failure: As of 2025, over 51% of university AI policies default to being instructor-specific, leading to inconsistent, “wild west” learning environments where students often receive no formal AI training, despite employer demand.
- AI Detection Inefficacy: The host strongly warns against institutions relying on AI content detectors (like Turnitin), labeling them as outdated, prone to false positives, and a fast track to lawsuits and institutional failure.
3. Business/Investment Angle
- Quiet Hiring as an Economic Force: AI implementation is leading to “quiet hiring,” where companies properly implementing AI require significantly fewer entry-level workers (forecasted 44% drop in hiring compared to the peak three years prior), which will be economically crushing for recent graduates.
- Surging Demand for AI Skills: Job postings mentioning Generative AI terms surged by 170% between January 2024 and January 2025, highlighting a massive, unmet demand for AI-proficient candidates.
- Investment in AI Literacy is Crucial: Universities successfully navigating this shift (e.g., ASU, Ohio State, CSU) are investing heavily in mandatory AI proficiency training and providing widespread access to enterprise-level LLMs (like ChatGPT-Edu) to align graduates with market needs.
4. Notable Companies/People
- Jordan Wilson (Host): Presents the central thesis, citing his experience as an AI professor at DePaul University.
- SenGage: Reputable academic research group whose report showed only 30% of 2025 graduates secured jobs in their field of study.
- Gusto: Payroll processing company whose data indicated a 44% drop in forecasted entry-level hiring in 2025 compared to three years prior.
- Indeed Hiring Lab: Provided data showing the 170% surge in job postings mentioning Generative AI.
- Successful Institutions: Ohio State University (mandatory AI seminars/tests), California State University ($17M deal for ChatGPT access), Arizona State University, and Indiana University.
- Failing Institutions (Examples of Resistance): Liberty University (still banning content creation, using detectors), Brown, UChicago Law, Princeton, Columbia, and Dartmouth (defaulting to bans or strict prohibition unless explicitly permitted).
5. Future Implications
The host predicts an “apocalyptic” collapse of the US higher education system within the next 10 to 20 years, similar in scale to the 2008 financial crisis, as the value proposition of a four-year degree plummets. The future of learning will pivot away from memorization toward skills that complement AI capabilities. Only institutions that rapidly integrate AI literacy as a core requirement will survive.
6. Target Audience
This episode is most valuable for Business Leaders, HR Professionals, Educational Administrators, and Technology Professionals who need to understand the macro-economic impact of AI on the talent pipeline and the strategic necessity of immediate AI upskilling versus traditional credentialing.
🏢 Companies Mentioned
💬 Key Insights
"The half-life and value of traditional knowledge building is going to continue to decrease, right? What you know still kind of matters now. In five to 10 years, right? When we're talking more about AGI, artificial general intelligence, and artificial super intelligence, what you know doesn't matter. It really doesn't."
"University rankings, they're going to get shaken up. All right. They're going to be influenced by the amount of compute and access to frontier AI."
"I think university donations will be replaced by access to university IP."
"If you are still banning AI at a college or university, that means you are not smart. You are literally signing up your students, your graduates, to fail, and you are blindly robbing them in the process."
"Fast forward to let's say 2025 and beyond: doesn't matter what you know. It matters the new business value that you can create with generative AI around your company's data."
"Guess what? Every single company out there is using generative AI, is using large language models. We are rewriting in real time how humans think the value of knowledge."