“You won’t need college for an engineering degree”: OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla predicts education will be free

For more than a century, the four year university degree has been treated as the main gateway to knowledge. Students enrol, spend years mastering a subject, and graduate with credentials that equal expertise to employers.

But advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are beginning to raise a different question. What happens to that model if knowledge itself becomes widely accessible through technology?In a conversation with Alyson Shontell on the Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, Vinod Khosla, the venture capitalist who founded Sun Microsystems and later established Khosla Ventures, argued that the traditional structure of higher education may face serious changes in the coming decades.

The case for free education

Khosla’s perspective begins with a simple premise. If technology allows people to access knowledge easily, the economic logic of charging large sums for education becomes harder to justify.“All education should be free,” Khosla said in the interview with Fortune. At the same time, he said that the future of universities themselves may be uncertain.According to him, institutions will continue to exist because people value them.

But their role may shift. Instead of serving as the only path to professional training, universities could become places people attend primarily for interest or intellectual exploration.“You won’t need a college to get an engineering degree. You won’t even need the engineering degree, except if your passion is learning,” Khosla said.So if AI systems can teach, guide and assist with complex subjects, many of the functions that once required structured university programmes could move online or become more informal.

Changing attitude towards college

There is also evidence which suggests that the attitude towards higher education is already changing among younger generations.A survey by Gallup conducted in September found that only 35% of Americans now say going to college is “very important”. That figure marks a record low and a sharp drop from more than half of respondents who held that view in 2019.Rising tuition fees and uncertainty about job prospects have contributed to that change.

Some surveys also show that many younger people question whether a traditional degree delivers value in the labour market.In another survey by ResumeGenius, about a quarter of members of Gen Z said they regret going to college. At the same time, interest in trade occupations such as welding, plumbing and carpentry has grown among younger workers.This suggests that the four year degree is no longer seen as the only reliable path to employment.

When expertise becomes widely accessible

Khosla believes AI could accelerate that shift. If powerful systems can provide explanations, tutoring and technical guidance, they may reduce the advantage traditionally associated with formal credentials.That possibility also raises deeper questions about how expertise is valued. “Do you pay a farmworker the same as an oncologist, because they happen to have the same expertise, which is the expertise of AI?” Khosla asked during the podcast conversation.In other words, if AI tools provide similar access to knowledge across professions, societies may need to reconsider how different forms of work are rewarded.

A wider transformation of work

Khosla’s predictions extend beyond education. He believes AI will transform the job market as well. According to him, many tasks currently performed by humans could eventually be handled more efficiently by AI systems.“Two thirds of all jobs will be capable of being done by an AI,” he told Fortune. “Whether you’re a physician, a radiologist, an accountant, a chip designer or a salesperson, AI will do your job better.”Recent developments already hint at these changes. The financial tech company Block recently laid off around 4,000 employees, with chief executive Jack Dorsey pointing to the growing capabilities of intelligence tools.Other industry figures have issued similar warnings. Mustafa Suleyman has suggested that workers who mainly perform computer based tasks could see many roles automated within the next 18 months.

Meanwhile Jamie Dimon has said governments may eventually need to regulate artificial intelligence if job displacement becomes severe.

A future shaped by abundance

Despite these concerns, Khosla believes the long term outcome could be a society where basic needs are easier to meet. He said that AI could remove as much as 15 trillion dollars of labour related output from the economy, while also making goods and services cheaper because of productivity gains.“I think we will have enough abundance. The need to work will go away,” Khosla said.Whether these predictions come true remains uncertain. But the debate he has entered mirrors a growing reality. As AI spreads across education and employment, the question is no longer only what students should study. It is also whether the structures built around learning in the twentieth century will still define how knowledge is acquired in the future.