Ex-Google exec says degrees in law and medicine are a waste of time because they take so long to complete that AI will catch up by graduation

Success·EducationEx-Google exec says degrees in law and medicine are a waste of time because they take so long to complete that AI will catch up by graduationBy Preston ForeBy Preston ForeStaff Writer, EducationPreston ForeStaff Writer, EducationPreston Fore is a reporter at Fortune, covering education and personal finance for the Success team.SEE FULL BIO Gen Z will just be “throwing away” years of their life by pursuing a PhD thanks to AI’s rapid innovation, former Google AI leader Jad Tarifi says.Courtesy of Integral AIGen Z grads are struggling to land jobs

But pursuing a doctoral degree to stand out is not the answer, warns Jad Tarifi, the founder of Google’s first generative-AI team

Students could end up “throwing away” years of their s, as nology is moving so quickly

This comes as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says ChatGPT can already perform on par with PhD-level experts, and Bill Gates admits that AI is accelerating at a pace that surprises even him

However, one former Google leader says Gen Z should not be so fast to jump on the PhD train, as even doctoral degrees may have lost their edge. “AI itself is going to be gone by the time you finish a PhD

Even things applying AI to robotics will be solved by then,” Jad Tarifi, the founder of Google’s first generative-AI team, told Insider

But today, the 42-year-old says, time would be better spent studying a more niche topic intertwined with AI, AI for biology—or maybe not a degree at all. “Higher education as we know it is on the verge of becoming obsolete,” Tarifi said to Fortune. “Thriving in the future will come not from collecting credentials but from cultivating unique perspectives, agency, emotional awareness, and strong human bonds. “I encourage young people to focus on two things: the art of connecting deeply with others, and the inner work of connecting with themselves.” ’s warning for education on the changing AI tide Even studying to become a medical doctor or lawyer may not be worth ambitious Gen Z’s time anymore

Those degrees take so long to complete in comparison with how quickly AI is evolving that they may result in students just “throwing away” years of their s, Tarifi added to BI. “In the current medical system, what you learn in medical school is so outdated and based on memorization,” he said

Tarifi is not alone in his feeling that higher education is not keeping up with the shifting AI tides

In fact, many leaders have recently expressed concerns that the rising cost of school paired with an outdated curriculum is creating a perfect storm for an unprepared workforce. “I’m not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today,” said Mark Zuckerberg on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast in April. “I think that there’s a big issue on that, and all the student debt issues are…really big. “It’s of been this taboo thing to say, ‘Maybe not everyone needs to go to college,’ and because there’s a lot of jobs that don’t require that…people are bably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe 10 years ago,” Zuckerberg added

Moreover, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that his company’s AI model can already perform in ways equivalent to those with a PhD. “GPT-5 really feels talking to a PhD-level expert in any topic,” Altman said earlier this month. “Something GPT-5 would be pretty much unimaginable in any other time in history.” The pipeline from PhD to six-figure job offer remains strong—for now For existing AI-focused PhD students, the private sector jobs pipeline remains strong

In fact, in 2023, some 70% of all AI doctoral students took private sector jobs postgrad, a jump from just 20% two decades ago, according to MIT

However, this increase has some academic leaders worried a “brain drain” that could result from too many experts electing to work at companies—versus staying back and teaching the next generation as fessors

Henry Hoffmann, the chair of the University of Chicago’s department of computer science, recently told Fortune that he’s seen his PhD students get courted for decades—but the salary lures have only grown

One student with zero fessional experience recently dropped out to accept a “high six-figure” offer from ByteDance. “When students can get the kind of job they want [as students], there’s no reason to force them to keep going,” Hoffmann said

Explore this year's list.