The AI apocalypse no one wants to talk about: College grad → degree expired upon arrival
America is free falling into an AI abyss. Entire industries are on the verge of becoming fully automated. Robots are rendering flesh and blood obsolete. College diplomas are looking increasingly like worthless pieces of paper.
And it’s just beginning. We are on the precipice of living in an AI-dominant world.
Are we ready for it?
Glenn Beck says we’re absolutely not ready. But there are some smart moves young people can make to help soften the blow that’s coming.
“I'm begging my kids, trade school, trade school, trade school, trade school because those are the jobs of the future,” he says.
Unless someone is interested in entering the medical field, which is safe for now but ultimately on track for eventual automatization, a generic college degree will likely end up being a waste of time and money.
Glenn’s head writer and researcher Jason Buttrill says he’s begging his son to consider electrician school instead of college, but anytime he brings the topic of AI dominance up, his son shuts down.
“There’s this weird apathy,” he tells Glenn.
Glenn’s co-host Stu Burguiere acknowledges that it’s a deeply depressing topic for emerging adults. Not only are they entering the adult world — degree or not — with the economic odds stacked heavily against them, but “not everybody wants to be a plumber or electrician.”
Nobody wants to be “the bad parent in the after-school special, like, ‘Screw your dreams, go be a plumber!”’ he laughs.
But Glenn says there are other paths young people can take to avoid wasting resources on a useless college degree. He uses his daughter, who wants to be an actress, as an example.
Instead of agreeing to send her to a “viper’s nest” acting school in New York, he helped “design a school” tailored specifically to her through a series of private lessons that will still hone the skills she needs to pursue her dreams.
“When they are driven for something, you don't have to say, ‘Be a plumber.’ You can say, ‘Let's find ways for you to learn this in a better way,”’ says Glenn.
On the flip side, for dreamers with big ideas, AI might actually make success possible. As a creative visionary, Glenn says AI has helped him actualize ideas he’s had for years.
But just as some kids have zero interest in blue-collar work, not everyone has big entrepreneurial ambitions. Many just want the longstanding path of earning a degree and climbing the corporate ladder.
So when they hear that that’s no longer a viable option, it sinks their spirits.
Jason explains it like this: Younger generations are stuck in a vicious cycle where AI has been pitched as the solution that will create explosive economic growth and reinvigorate the American dream for young people. Except it’s also going to destroy the jobs they want.
“They're in that circle, and they're like, ‘I'm screwed.’ ... None of the math adds up,” he says.
To hear more of the conversation, watch the video above.
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