LinkedIn CEO says college degrees losing value, stresses ‘human skills’ in AI era

San Francisco: LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky has said that traditional college degrees are becoming less relevant in today’s job market, with artificial intelligence accelerating a shift in how companies evaluate talent.

Speaking at a fireside chat in San Francisco, Roslansky stressed that adaptability, curiosity and technological fluency are now more valuable than elite academic credentials. “My guess is that the future of work belongs not anymore to the people that have the fanciest degrees or went to the best colleges, but to the people who are adaptable, forward-thinking, ready to learn, and ready to embrace these tools,” he said, according to Business Insider.

He added that this shift is “opens up the playing field in a way we’ve never seen before”, with AI creating opportunities for workers who are willing to evolve.

The remarks come amid growing debate about the value of higher education. Recently Fortune reported that, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters described his MBA as a “waste of time”, while Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg criticised universities for burdening students with debt without adequately preparing them for a technology-driven economy.

Roslansky, however, argued that AI’s rise does not diminish the role of humans, but rather elevates the importance of interpersonal and emotional skills. “I believe that the human component to all of this is, quite frankly, going to be most people’s secret weapon,” he said. “Don’t forget the human skills. Those are critical to being successful in anything that you’re trying to do moving forward.”