Billionaire CEO Questions College Degrees in AI World

As artificial intelligence reshapes the job market, workers of every age are looking for ways to future-proof their careers. Palantir CEO Alex Karp, a billionaire with three college degrees, has been blunt about the limits of higher education in an AI-driven economy.

“[AI] will destroy humanities jobs,” Karp said at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in early 2026. Speaking about his own background, he added, “Hopefully, you have some other skill. That one is going to be hard to market.”

One of the clearest alternatives may be skilled trades, such as plumbing, electrical work and other hands-on professions that are difficult to automate.

Palantir, a data analytics company that builds software for government agencies and large corporations, is putting that thinking into practice. Its Meritocracy Fellowship is designed for high school graduates who choose not to attend college, whether because they found the traditional college path unappealing or did not get into their dream schools. The program’s pitch is direct: “Skip the debt. Reclaim years of your life.”

Karp is not alone in questioning the value of a traditional college education. As entry-level positions become harder to find for Gen Z graduates, more young people are reaching a similar conclusion: a college degree alone is no longer a guarantee of career success.

Employers and graduates alike are increasingly asking what a degree actually delivers, and whether there are better ways to prepare for the workforce of the future.

While the idea that years spent in college do not guarantee success is nothing new for the frum community, it is becoming increasingly clear to the rest of the world that the traditional college route is far from the only, or necessarily the best, way to build a successful career.

As is well known, the Rebbe repeatedly emphasized that a college degree is not necessary – or even helpful – for making a living. Not just from a spiritual perspective, but even from a practical, common-sense perspective.

In one letter (Adar 1, 5722), the Rebbe writes: “Another point, which is often the subject of misconception, is the importance attached to a college degree from the economic point of view. Statistics show that the majority of college graduates eventually establish themselves in occupations and businesses not directly connected with their courses of study in college. The point is obvious.”

Even the colleges themselves, the Rebbe noted (in a sicha from Chukas Balak 5715), admit that only a small percentage of students earn a livelihood from their degrees.

The central pillar of the Rebbe’s argument against college – most often reiterated in letters and sichos -was a clear rejection of the idea that one needs a degree in order to earn a living (this in addition to multiple other arguments, such as that the college environment is antithetical to Torah values, and so on).