Rob Hillard, CEO of Deloitte’s Asia-Pacific office, said universities are failing to prepare students for an AI-driven workplace by teaching many students to treat technology as cheating.
Hillard spoke about the future of work in an interview with Bloomberg this week, saying new graduates are entering the workforce with a “negative perception” of AI after being taught in college that it can be used to commit fraud.
“Too many people view this technology as cheating,” he says. “That has to change.”
Deloitte executives said universities have been slow to make AI a central part of preparing students for the workplace, adding that changing this perception of technology is key to successfully evolving the workplace as AI evolves.
The only way to invent and design the future of work is to “be hands-on with technology, thinking about how we can get the most effective interface between humans and machines,” Hillard said.
A recent Gallup/Lumina Foundation survey of approximately 3,800 students found that 42% of respondents said their schools do not encourage the use of AI, and 11% said AI technology is banned outright.
This reluctance among educators is driven in part by fear of cheating and attempts to encourage independent critical thinking.
However, despite reporting limitations on the use of AI, more than half (57%) of U.S. college students said they use AI in class at least weekly, and one in five said they use it daily.
The use of AI in universities has rapidly gained attention in recent weeks, with several commencement speakers drawing boos from students when they mentioned the growing role of technology in the world.
Concerns about AI in consulting
Concerns about job losses due to AI are particularly acute in the professional services industry.
Top companies, including Deloitte, are racing to embed generative and agentic AI into their workflows, leveraging new technologies to speed up repetitive, data-intensive tasks that were previously left to junior employees. This change is raising questions about companies’ own educational strategies for upskilling young employees.
Employment for specific jobs management consultantDeloitte’s fellow Big Four firm PwC fell. Reduce all entry-level hires In the US, it will increase by one-third over the next three years. Part of the reason is “the impact of AI,” Business Insider exclusively reported in August.
Regarding Deloitte’s approach to junior employees, Hillard told Bloomberg that the firm is admitting “a record number of graduates” and investing more than ever in training graduates for the jobs of the future.