How AI could make uni degrees less valuable

March 22, 2026 — 4:45pm

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Getting a university degree has long been seen as a ticket to a decent-paying job, even if that link has been increasingly questioned in recent years.

But what if artificial intelligence fundamentally changes this equation, and degrees become less likely to secure white-collar work?

As companies everywhere rush to exploit AI, one of Labor’s top economic minds, Dr Andrew Leigh, explored this and some other big economic questions posed by the AI craze in a speech last week.

It left me thinking that even if the doomsday “jobpocalyse” scenarios of mass lay-offs don’t come true, we can be pretty sure that AI will have all sorts of other effects on the labour market, particularly for people in white-collar jobs.

AI-driven job cuts have become all too real lately, as tech giants such as Atlassian, WiseTech and Block have brutally swung the axe. More employers will inevitably follow suit, so it’s understandable that much of the AI discussion is about whether we’re heading for a dystopian future where the robots take over humans’ jobs, causing untold economic and social misery.

The week AI came for Australian jobs

Leigh, assistant minister for productivity competition, charities and treasury, is at the more optimistic end of this debate and believes the “jobpocalypse” scenario is unlikely, though the truth is that no one really knows.

But the main point he made was that AI is already affecting some key economic theories about the world of work and labour markets.

First, there’s much debate about which........

© The Sydney Morning Herald