{
  "id": 7993661,
  "title": "Big AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn’t play along | Ella Hafermalz",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/big-ai-is-trying-to-own-the-pathway-to-work-universities-shouldnt",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-17T09:00:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Guardian US",
    "slug": "the-guardian-us",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/17/big-ai-work-universities"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Universities must protect their role in education to ensure students have an independent route to employment. Companies such as OpenAI are infiltrating this pathway from education to work, risking a disastrous outcome for students. Recent conversations with my students reveal their reliance on AI for both personal issues and academic support. Some even doubt their abilities without AI.\n\nInstitutions are striving to adapt to AI, but it's crucial to address the AI industry's efforts to dominate the educational pipeline. This prevents us from focusing on the students who matter most. AI firms have been heightening students' fear of unemployment, now promising a solution: AI-enhanced education.\n\nOpenAI's new certification programs aim to connect learning, certification, and real economic opportunities in a seamless journey. The company aims to offer education, credentials, and job access, effectively controlling the entire pipeline and integrating AI at every stage. They aim to compete directly with universities without needing to build physical campuses. Instead, they can monopolize key aspects of higher education by controlling the tools used for learning and work.\n\nWith AI companies focusing on building a business model beyond subscriptions, universities need to be vigilant about this threat and urgently safeguard their position. An independent path for students may become inaccessible. Although many young people are uncertain about AI, they often trust services that explain complex topics calmly and patiently, or provide emotional support. Now, OpenAI is deepening its connection to students through hiring campus ambassadors. This program offers robust training in AI tools, funding, swag, and access to a supportive community. This strategy allows OpenAI to gain greater access to students and collect data to inform future actions.\n\nAI companies also establish a presence within employers, sending over 150 engineers to the \"frontlines\" of their network to re-engineer work around their tools. However, AI firms are influencing what employers seek, giving them a powerful position to mediate the relationship between students and employers. They can shape the skills employers desire while playing a larger role in how students learn those skills and prepare for work. OpenAI obtains insights and influence over students' learning and the employers' workflow and needs, paving the way for OpenAI to potentially dismantle universities. Their focus on credentials, as seen in their collaboration with companies like Accenture and John Deere, seeks to lead to employment opportunities. The learning experience is now available within ChatGPT, providing learners with real tasks, real-time feedback, and reflection on their work.",
  "summary": "Universities need protect their position in education so that students have an independent pathway to employment AI companies like OpenAI are insinuating themselves into the pathway from education to work. Soon they may claim it entirely, a disastrous result for students. We know that students are using AI at school and at university. In conversations with those I teach, I’m struck by the trust…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Guardian Technology",
        "title": "Big AI is trying to own the pathway to work. Universities shouldn’t play along | Ella Hafermalz",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/big-ai-is-trying-to-own-the-pathway-to-work-universities-shouldnt-7997255",
        "published": "2026-09-17T09:00:44.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}