Palantir CEO Alex Karp calls out 4-yr college degrees, tells Yale students to learn ‘specific’ skills to make more money
Alex Karp, co-founder and CEO of defense technology company Palantir, has suggested that college degrees will be useless in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), according to multiple reports. Karp felt “impressed” by smart children graduating from well-known universities with “generalized knowledge”.
Warning to Yale graduates: ‘Learn something special’
Speaking to Axios about education, artificial intelligence and starting his company, Karp, 58, was highly critical of future returns for the highly educated. “For example, a Yale graduate with a high IQ has generalized knowledge, but it’s not specific. You’re impressed,” Karp said.
“The Yale graduate will need to learn something special—domain expertise. How do I write a script that allows me to target terrorists?…How do I put cement into a factory with such precision that I can build a factory in Taiwan, built in America?” he added.
Karp added that what could help future degree recipients earn “more money” is their ability to maximize the potential added value of artificial intelligence, according to the New York Harbor report.
Is the age of artificial intelligence challenging traditional university education?
In its report, NYP specifically cited the United States Federal Reserve Bank of NY’s 2025 report showing a high rate of unemployment among college graduates aged 22-27 studying computer science and computer engineering; unemployment rates of 6.1% and 7.5% respectively. The numbers are so dismal that they outnumber the usual unemployment suspects (art history students (3%)).
Although Karp is the most outspoken person, he is not alone in this opinion. Open AI’s Sam Altman said in October that he believed artificial intelligence could surpass humans in scientific discoveries. So which professional route can people take? The ChatGPT producer’s chief felt that “the ability to learn how to learn” would be important.
“The meta skill of learning how to learn, learning to adapt, learning to be resilient to a lot of change… learning what people want,” he added.
Even Matt Garman, CEO of tech giant Amazon Web Services (AWS), offered similar advice to future job seekers on employment skills in the age of artificial intelligence. Speaking to CNBC, he expressed his strong belief in the need to develop more social skills; He also gives some advice to his children. “No matter what subject you study, develop your critical thinking skills at university,” he emphasized.
“I think part of going to college is building [your] critical thinking. It is less concerned with the development of skills and indeed [about] How do you become a critical thinker? “In some ways I think this will actually be the most important skill going forward,” he added.
In addition to critical thinking, Garman highlighted two other important social skills: adaptability and communication.
