Tech leaders and famous thinkers are asking if spending years in lecture halls still makes sense when AI can code, write, and analyse faster than many graduates. This is happening from San Francisco to Paris. In France, where long academic study has long shaped careers and social status, their argument is starting to sound loud.
The new gospel in Silicon Valley is to quit school and start building.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and the face of ChatGPT, praised Gen Z students who had dropped out of college at a crowded tech conference in late 2025. He said he was “envious” of people who had dropped out of school because they now had more freedom and opportunities than ever before.
Altman wasn’t talking in general terms. He dropped out of college at 19. The dropout visionary is a well-known story in American tech culture, and his fits that mould. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are famous for leaving Harvard. At the same age, Alexandr Wang, the young billionaire who now runs artificial intelligence at Meta, left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
These biographies show that, at least in tech, the best way to get ahead may not be in school, but outside of it.
This idea has become a kind of counter-orthodoxy in Silicon Valley. People think that if you’re smart, you should spend your early twenties launching products instead of studying for tests.
A French shock book that says the “death of the diploma”
This talk is no longer limited to California. A new book has made the debate even more heated in France, a country that has always valued formal credentials. The title is very clear: Ne faites plus d’études. Stop studying. “Learn differently in the age of AI,” published by Buchet-Chastel in 2025.
Its co-authors are well-known and controversial. Laurent Alexandre is a vocal supporter of transhumanism, a movement that wants to use technology to “improve” people. He often talks to far-right leader Jordan Bardella. Olivier Babeau is a professor and essayist at the University of Bordeaux. They all agree that the diploma is dead.
They say that for a long time, getting a higher education was the best way to move up in society and make money. They think that contract is no longer valid. They say that the traditional degree “no longer counts for anything” in an economy that has changed because of AI and constant technological change.
Their main point is that in a society driven by AI, the value of static knowledge goes down while the value of being able to adapt and learn quickly on your own goes up.
Why this message has a different effect in France
The argument takes place in a country where academic credentials are a big part of public life. Many of France’s top civil servants, senior executives, and political leaders went to “grandes écoles,” which are very selective schools that lead to power.
That makes the anti-degree story both interesting and strangely appealing. A lot of young people in France feel stuck in a system where success means years of tough tests, strict schedules, and unpaid internships, with no guarantee of a stable job at the end.
Some people hear a promise of freedom when tech leaders say that talent is more important than a certificate. Some people think that this is a dangerous illusion that could make the gap between those who can take risks and those who can’t afford to fail even bigger.
AI as the catalyst: what transforms, what remains unchanged
This whole debate is based on artificial intelligence. ChatGPT and other tools do things that used to be done by junior graduates, like writing, coding, summarising long documents, scanning legal texts, or medical literature.
For businesses, this can make general, textbook knowledge less valuable.
It makes students question why they should spend years learning things that machines can do right away.
It makes it harder for colleges and universities to grade and update their courses.
The dropout story says that in a world like this, the diploma doesn’t matter; the portfolio does. This includes things like shipping products, writing code, and building communities. People in Silicon Valley love stories about teens who learned online, started a business, and made millions before they were old enough to buy a drink.
But the picture isn’t clear. AI also makes it more important to have a lot of knowledge in fields like law, ethics, advanced math, medicine, and government. Degrees in those fields still open doors that are hard to push without formal training.
Between myth and reality: who can really “skip” college?
There is a harsher reality behind the glamorous stories of billionaires who dropped out of school. Gates and Zuckerberg didn’t just leave any school; they left Harvard with strong networks and family safety nets already in place.
In France, a student who leaves an engineering school in Lyon or a business school in Lille does not automatically get access to venture capital and mentors from Silicon Valley. They might end up doing dangerous gig work without a diploma and with no clear way back into the system.
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The risk is that the “no more studies” message is strongest for people who can’t afford to make mistakes.
Labour economists frequently emphasise that, on average, degrees remain significantly associated with elevated earnings and reduced unemployment, despite the diminishing premium in certain sectors. Statistically, the stories of billionaires who drop out are very rare and not typical.
What French students are really doing
Instead of all leaving college, many French students are hedging. They keep their degree but change how they study and work.
Common strategies are:
- Starting side projects or businesses while still in school.
- Using AI tools to speed up work and make time for internships.
- Choosing shorter, vocational programs instead of five-year elite tracks.
- Taking online classes in coding, design, or data along with regular classes.
This mixed approach shows that the Silicon Valley script is being read more carefully. Students want to be able to choose their own path and learn useful skills, but very few are willing to completely cut ties with the formal system.
Who gets the most out of the anti-degree talk?
The story about the “death of the diploma” fits well with the goals of some tech companies. If credentials don’t matter as much, companies can hire younger, less experienced workers who are cheaper. They can also hire people from all over the world, focusing on skills tests instead of accredited programs.
Some people in France are worried that this kind of talk makes public universities weaker and pushes people to go to private boot camps and corporate training academies instead. Those other options can be flexible and work well, but they are often costly and not very well regulated.
Transhumanism and the religion of improvement
Laurent Alexandre’s involvement links the degree debate to transhumanism, a movement that advocates for the use of technology to augment physical and cognitive capabilities. In that way of thinking, human capital is something that needs to be improved all the time.
From this point of view, a set study period of four or five years seems old-fashioned. Learning should be ongoing, modular, and closely integrated with the most recent tools. Diplomas, which are given out once and for all, seem like things from a time when things moved more slowly.
Signalling vs. skills
Economists frequently refer to degrees as “signals.” A diploma doesn’t just show what you know; it also shows things like your ability to follow rules, your persistence, and your basic intelligence. AI makes that signal less clear.
Grades don’t tell us as much about what a person really knows as they do about what a chatbot can do. For example, if a chatbot can pass certain tests or write well-organised essays. That makes employers look for other ways to prove someone’s skills, like live coding tests, trial periods, project portfolios, and recommendations from coworkers.
Real-life situations for teens to think about their choices
A French high school graduate in 2026 has to make a more complicated choice tree than their parents did. One realistic option is to start a degree and set clear goals along the way. After one or two years, they can look at what they’ve learned, the job market, and whether side projects are getting more attention.
You could also choose to do a shorter program that focuses on skills, like a two-year technical diploma or design school, while using AI tools to build a strong online portfolio. This makes a middle ground: a real proof of skill and an accredited qualification.
The worst thing that could happen is quitting early without a plan, savings, or a support network and hoping for viral success that never comes.
If you’re thinking about moving to Silicon Valley, one thing you can do is try out freelance work, open-source contributions, or a small start-up project during the holidays. This will help you get a feel for the area before you burn any bridges. The result gives you real-world feedback on whether skipping more study is a brave move or a risky one.
| Path | Potential advantages | Main risks |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional long degree | Recognised credential, broad knowledge, access to networks and public sector roles | Cost, time, slow adaptation to fast tech changes |
| Early dropout, start‑up path | Speed, real‑world learning, potential high upside if venture succeeds | High failure rate, weak safety net, harder return to formal careers |
| Hybrid: degree + self‑learning | Diversified skills, recognised diploma, flexibility to pivot | Heavy workload, risk of burnout, unclear priorities |
What happens next in the debate
The fight between formal education and the story of students dropping out because of AI will not be over any time soon. France still believes in competitive exams, ranked schools, and well-planned careers. At the same time, the tech sector’s disruptive ethos, which has been pushed by well-known people like Altman and Alexandre, has already begun to change how young people think about learning, taking risks, and being successful.
In the next few years, we’ll see if degrees can change quickly enough to stay useful, or if the idea of “learning differently” in the age of AI goes from being a challenge to being a common practice on both sides of the Atlantic.
