Now we’ll never graduate

I’ve been listening to some conversations on Diary of a CEO about AI, and they’ve provoked a lot of reflection. I’ve always known the current education model won’t hold for the future, but I didn’t know exactly how. Now there’s a theory that feels plausible.

For centuries, education has followed a cycle: we learn for the first 2–3 decades, then apply that learning to work for the following 3 or 4. In the learning phase, older relatives provide for us; in the working phase, we provide for younger ones and those who can no longer work.

Careers have always gone obsolete, but usually over decades — long enough that one could expect their chosen path to last a lifetime.

Here’s what’s changing: as computers join the think-tank, innovation will move at relentless speed. New careers will replace old ones, but much faster — sometimes in just years. The old learn-then-work cycle will struggle to keep up.

Humans may no longer be able rely on mastering one skill and living on it for decades.

Constant schooling, and reschooling, as we pivot from careers every few years? Is that what the future will look like? What would this mean for parents trying to educate kids being born into the midwife-hands of AI? These are the questions.