Nowhere is this skepticism louder than in my own backyard. In Silicon Valley, the "skip college" mantra has evolved from a "hot take" to accepted wisdom. Fueled by the rise of generative AI, the logic is seductive: If artificial intelligence can code, write copy, and analyze data faster than a junior employee, why spend four years and a small fortune on skills a bot will master before you graduate?
Artificial intelligence is transforming not only the jobs people hold, but also the skills they rely on to do them. New data from LinkedIn shows that 85 percent of U.S. professionals could see at least a quarter of their skills affected by AI. In other words, a significant portion of workers' expertise may need to evolve to keep pace. As a reflection of this shift, the most in-demand skill over the past year, unsurprisingly, has been AI literacy.
While over half of all Americans rate math skills as "very important" in their work (55 percent) and personal (63 percent) lives, only 38 percent of young people (ages 18 to 24) said math skills are very important in their work life and 37 percent in their personal life, according to a December survey of 5,100 U.S. adults.
