Big AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn’t play along | Ella Hafermalz

Universities need to protect their position in education so that students have an independent pathway to employment

AI companies like OpenAI are insinuating themselves into the pathway from education to work. Soon they may claim it entirely, a disastrous result for students.

We know that students are using AI at school and at university. In conversations with those I teach, I’m struck by the trust many place in it. They turn to ChatGPT and similar tools for personal problems as well as study help. Some even doubt their abilities without AI.

Institutions are working hard to adapt. But we need to urgently look up from the use of AI to pay attention to big AI companies’ attempts to take over the educational pipeline, else we lose sight of the people that matter, our students.

The industry has spent the past few years making our young people afraid of unemployment. Now it’s claiming to have a solution: more AI.