{"id":627884,"date":"2026-09-17T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627884\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:40:11","slug":"big-ai-is-trying-to-own-the-pathway-to-work-universities-shouldnt-play-along-ella-hafermalz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627884\/","title":{"rendered":"Big AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn\u2019t play along | Ella Hafermalz"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI companies like OpenAI are insinuating themselves into the pathway from education to work. Soon they may claim it entirely, a disastrous result for students.<\/p>\n

We know that students are using AI at school and at university. In conversations with those I teach, I\u2019m struck by the trust many place in it. They turn to ChatGPT and similar tools for personal problems as well as study help. Some even doubt their abilities without AI.<\/p>\n

Institutions are working hard to adapt. But we need to urgently look up from the use of AI to pay attention to big AI companies\u2019 attempts to take over the educational pipeline, else we lose sight of the people that matter, our students.<\/p>\n

The industry has spent the past few years making our young people afraid of unemployment. Now it\u2019s claiming to have a solution: more AI.<\/p>\n

On a website introducing its new certification programs, OpenAI gives a peek into the bigger picture. The company says it wants to \u201cconnect learning, certification and real economic opportunity in one clear journey, laying the foundation for our upcoming OpenAI Jobs Platform\u201d. That means offering education, credentials and access to work \u2013 owning the entire pipeline, infusing AI at every step.<\/p>\n

The company is positioning itself to directly compete with universities. I don\u2019t mean that we\u2019ll soon see shiny new ChatGPT campuses. These companies don\u2019t need to build a university out of bricks and mortar to take over key parts of higher education. They already own the tools where learning and work are increasingly happening \u2013 next, they can compete with universities by brokering access to employment.<\/p>\n

As big AI companies search for a business model beyond subscriptions, universities need to be alert to this threat and urgently protect their position. Otherwise, the possibility of an independent path for students may be lost.<\/p>\n

Big AI is slowly commandeering the pathway<\/p>\n

Even though many young people are ambivalent towards AI, it\u2019s easy to see why they\u2019d trust a service that\u2019s explained accounting calmly and patiently for the 20th time and counselled them through a breakup.<\/p>\n

Now OpenAI is extending its close relationship with students even further, hiring students as campus ambassadors.<\/p>\n

The recruitment ad for joining what the company calls the Student Collective promises prospective campus leads \u201crobust training in our tools, funding, swag and access to a community of remarkable peers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Such a program gives OpenAI even greater access to students. This is a familiar brand strategy. Getting inside a community is a way to win trust and influence. It also gives you data that can inform your next move.<\/p>\n

At the same time, AI companies are getting boots on the ground within employers.<\/p>\n

The OpenAI Deployment Company launched this year, with \u201cmore than $4bn of initial investment\u201d. It\u2019s sending over 150 \u201cforward deployed engineers\u201d, a military metaphor used to describe engineers embedded in companies, to the \u201cfrontlines\u201d of its network of organisations to re-engineer work around OpenAI\u2019s tools.<\/p>\n

But a company that is at the centre of shaping work across industries also sees and influences what employers are looking for. That puts OpenAI in a powerful position to broker the relationship between students and employers. It can help shape the skills employers want, while becoming increasingly involved in how students learn those skills and prepare for work.<\/p>\n

So, OpenAI will have insight and influence over students and their learning on one hand, and employers\u2019 workflows and needs on the other.<\/p>\n

With that, all that is needed for OpenAI to unbundle universities is credentialing. And it\u2019s doing that, too.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with companies including Accenture and John Deere, OpenAI is now offering certificates meant to lead to employment opportunities. Currently, the focus is on AI tooling and literacy.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not new \u2013 tech providers have always taught people how to use their tools. The difference this time is how the credentials fit into a larger ambition to capture every step of the journey from learning to work.<\/p>\n

Look at the language it uses to sell the delivery of the program: \u201cA full learning experience is available directly inside ChatGPT, where learners can practice real tasks, receive feedback in context, and reflect on their work in a single environment. ChatGPT acts as the tutor, the practice space, and the feedback loop.\u201d A single learning environment, and one clear journey.<\/p>\n

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OpenAI could soon be selling young people a one-stop-shop for learning, credentials and a job, all heavily dependent on its tools.<\/p>\n

We shouldn\u2019t hand the pathway to work to big AI<\/p>\n

I understand that the picture I\u2019ve painted here may be appealing to some. Students are nervous about their futures, and employers are urgently seeking workers with the \u2018right\u2019 skills.<\/p>\n

But there is a human, societal, and potentially economic cost to making this particular journey so centralized.<\/p>\n

Consider what a 23-year-old recently told the Wall Street Journal when discussing the appeal of \u201cwhite-collar apprenticeships\u201d: \u201cCompanies want to help mold you into the employees they\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may be so, but if commercial actors own the pathway from education to work, how will the next generation learn who they are and could be outside of the immediate demands of these structures?<\/p>\n

And what happens when what employers are looking for changes as technologies evolve and bubbles burst?<\/p>\n

Society \u2013 and students \u2013 need education to be more than a quick-turn-around response to the whims of today\u2019s increasingly fragile market. Universities can and should offer an alternative path to a totalizing \u201csingle environment\u201d.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s not compete on big AI\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n

Rather than turning to AI to speed up grading or rushing to use bots as a stand-in for teachers, we need to focus on what OpenAI cannot so easily provide: independence, access to expertise in context, productive struggle and social connection.<\/p>\n

Memories are made when others \u2013 both peers and educators \u2013 see your efforts, and recognise who you are and who you are becoming.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, Sam Altman and peers had declared the job apocalypse. We should be wary when the same companies that warned young people that their future is uncertain offer them \u201cone clear journey\u201d towards a different version. Education should leave space and time for finding your own way, beyond a mold offered up for profit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI companies like OpenAI are insinuating themselves into the pathway from education to work. Soon they may claim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-627884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}