Schools are training kids to follow in AI's footsteps — pushing them toward a 'life of hurt,' says a VC-turned-educator (www.businessinsider.com)

Former venture capitalist–turned-education reformer Ted Dintersmith warned that U.S. schools are graduating students trained to be “flawed, expensive versions of ChatGPT” — taught to memorize and follow rigid instructions that AI already executes better. He argues that AI-savvy hires will compress entry-level roles (“two or three people who are good at AI will replace 20 or 30 who aren’t”), leaving many graduates without meaningful work. Dintersmith frames the current system as a “college or Chipotle” dilemma: overpriced degrees or low-wage jobs, while middle-skill positions disappear. He sees this as an urgent societal risk unless curricula shift from test-score obsession to teaching uniquely human skills. Dintersmith recommends three practical changes: embrace and let students experiment with AI tools; expand and destigmatize career-based and vocational learning (carpentry, welding, HVAC, health sciences) that require creativity and interpersonal skills and are harder to automate; and reform accountability metrics to reward project-based problem solving, critical thinking, fact-checking, and collaboration. For the AI/ML community, his message underscores a dual imperative: accelerate workforce upskilling in AI literacy and help reshape education so human strengths complement models rather than duplicate them. His forthcoming book, The Aftermath, and documentary Multiple Choice promote this urgent pivot toward applied, AI-aware learning.