If AI can learn faster, outperform, and upskill itself infinitely, what’s a diploma worth? In the coming years, entire fields and industries will watch as years of human-earned credentials get devalued—worse, made irrelevant—at machine speed. If that unnerves you, good. It should.

Here’s the coming reality: Knowing facts or following processes won’t differentiate you when all knowledge is just a prompt away. ‘Proof of skill’ will shift from static degrees to dynamic, verifiable demonstrations—a living portfolio as agile as you are. Expect value to accrue to people who show how they think, adapt, and create in contexts AI can’t fully predict (yet): cross-domain reasoning, rapid abstraction, problem-solving in the unknown.

The biggest risk isn’t that machines will make us obsolete, but that we’ll keep measuring ourselves by obsolete markers. What would it look like to build an education and career around fluid, transferable skills—not just facts or code, but adaptability itself?

The old credentials will fade. But the ability to keep reinventing—yourself, your approach, your sense of meaning—could be the new gold standard. Read More