Rapid skills change and knowledge turnover may mean formal degrees are more rapidly out of date, according to PwC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer report, which was released last week.
Employers’ demand for formal degrees is falling for all jobs, but it is falling more quickly for jobs exposed to artificial intelligence.
“AI helps people rapidly build and command expert knowledge … which could make formal qualifications less relevant,” according to the report which analyzed close to a billion job ads and thousands of company financial reports across six continents.
According to the report, formal degrees may become “out of date” sooner rather than later because of the rapid turnover in the skills and knowledge workers need to succeed brought about by technology.
What people can do now, rather than what they studied in the past, is more important in sectors where artificial intelligence is present.
PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer for 2025
Interestingly, the abilities that employers need are evolving 66% more quickly in professions that are most exposed to AI, like financial analysis, than in professions that are least exposed, like physical therapy. According to PwC data, this represents an increase from the 25% observed the previous year.
Billionaire Dies After A Strange ‘Bee Incident’
“For workers, a greater emphasis on skills over degrees in hiring may help to democratise opportunity, opening doors for those who lack the time or resources to gain formal degrees,” the report said. “In AI-exposed fields, what matters is increasingly what people can do today, not what they studied in the past.”
Today, education isn’t limited to formal institutions or universities anymore, as you can learn using AI tools and LLMs (large language models), PwC Global Chief AI Officer Joe Atkinson said. In order to adapt and futureproof your career in the rapidly changing work landscape, he suggested upskilling on AI at home.
“I think the ability individuals will have to tap vast amounts of knowledge is amplified in this age of AI,” said Atkinson. This is leading to a new kind of economy where “the bar for everybody goes higher, because the access we all have to knowledge will be greater.”
“What’s most important is that AI skills are practical skills. They’re applied skills … you have to use the tech,” he said. The dedication to self-learning during this era is becoming “the new table stakes. If you’re not able to do that, you are going to fall behind so quickly.”
“The reality is we can’t fear the tech. We have to embrace the tech,” PwC Global Chief AI Officer Joe Atkinson said.
But ultimately, formal education isn’t only about acquiring knowledge and skills — “it’s about the whole person,” he said. “It’s about how you think and how you interact and how you critique. I think those higher-order capabilities … become more valuable in the future, not less.”
Credit: CNBC News
