2026-02-18T16:51:48.670Z
- The rise of AI is calling into question the value of college degrees that lead to white-collar jobs.
- But “AI Godfather” Joshua Bengio still wants his 4-year-old grandson to go to college.
- Bengio said education is not just about getting a job, it’s about understanding society.
Does it make sense to go to college when AI is expected to fundamentally change white-collar jobs?
Yes, according to Joshua Bengio.
On Monday’s episode of the “Silicon Valley Girl” podcast, host Marina Mogilko asked Bengio if he would encourage his 4-year-old grandson to go to college. Bengio, along with fellow computer scientists Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, is known as one of the “godfathers of AI” for his pioneering work in deep learning and neural networks.
Bengio immediately answered yes, saying, “Education is really important and contrary to what some people think, it’s not just about getting the skills to get a job.
“In my opinion, education is primarily about how to become a better person, how to understand yourself, how to understand society and each other.”
Bengio’s comments further fuel the debate about whether it’s worth pursuing the traditional path to college in a world where AI is as advanced as or better than humans in a wide range of cognitive tasks.
Hinton said on a June episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast that AI may already make it harder for college graduates to get jobs, so now is a good time to become a plumber. Fei-Fei Li, a Stanford University professor known as the “Godmother of AI,” said on “The Tim Ferriss Show” in December that when hiring for her AI startup, a candidate’s degree is more important than the tools they can use, such as AI.
Bengio’s comments Monday echoed what he said on his podcast, “The Diary of a CEO,” in December, when he said his advice to his 4-year-old grandson in today’s world is to focus on being a “beautiful human being.”
“Even if machines can do most of the work, I think some of us will still be there,” he says.
