OpenAI product lead says students should look out for this worrying sign at computer-science programs (www.businessinsider.com)

OpenAI Codex product lead Alexander Embiricos told the A16z podcast that a computer science degree remains valuable but warned students to avoid programs that ban AI tools. He urged students to "constantly" use AI while learning, and said hiring teams at OpenAI give the strongest signal for new grads who have actually built and publicly linked projects. Embiricos recommends curricula that blend low-level, manual exercises (to teach systems thinking and understanding of what's happening under the hood) with outcome-driven coursework where students leverage AI to deliver working software. The comments matter because agentic AI models—cited implicitly by tools like GPT-5-Codex—are increasingly capable of generating production code, shifting what employers value. Universities are already rethinking assessment and pedagogy as students lean on AI and sometimes lose comprehension of core concepts. Practically, Embiricos’s advice implies programs should teach fundamentals rigorously while integrating AI tool use, and students should prioritize demonstrable projects and AI fluency to remain competitive amid slower entry-level hiring and rapidly evolving software engineering workflows.