– Yogi Kochhar is an acclaimed AI futurist

YOGI KOCHHAR

At Davos 2025, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said AI could finish “most, maybe all” software engineering within six to 12 months. This wasn’t a joke. Anthropic recently shipped Claude Cowork with all code written by Claude Code, leaving engineers to review, guide, and approve outputs.

If the linchpin of modern engineering i.e, software engineering is becoming history, the ripple effects will hit mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering. Yet our formal education system plods along, churning out graduates like an assembly line without worrying about demand.

Therefore, traditional software engineers face a fork in the road. Either adapt into model orchestrators, reviewers, and system owners, or die. The middle ground is disappearing fast. Waiting is the riskiest option.

This will not only impact jobs for those studying software engineering, the education system is failing the state’s intent to support them while equally wasting resources teaching them content that is as redundant as it is irrelevant.

In sum, software engineering obsolesce applies to 90 percent of the 10 million students currently enrolled in software engineering programmes in India, unless the entire curricula of engineering courses are repurposed and homologated.

The Indian education system, meant to be a beacon of opportunity, has instead become a factory of unemployment, perpetuating the very problem it was meant to solve. In the age of AI, this failure is glaring. Training students for jobs that are already obsolete is like carrying coal to Newcastle while the world moves on.

Complacency is the silent accomplice. If our traditional education system was good enough, where was the need for the coaching schools of Kota? However, even Kota has started to obsolesce as it churns out test-takers for outdated engineering degrees. Graduates are increasingly likely to find themselves lost in the wilderness of joblessness.

Therefore, this is a Mayday wake up call for vice chancellors and education administrators. With government support, this is time for them to write a new code. Unless this is done urgently, the future of millions of young people is at stake, as higher ed institutions are equipping students with syllabuses and degrees the economy no longer needs. It’s the equivalent of teaching Greek to Hindi scholars.

It’s unfortunate but increasingly true that traditional degrees are becoming relics, propping up industries that no longer provide the bulk of jobs. As AI reshapes the economy, the demand for new skillsets is shifting at lightning speed. Yet students are still being handed anachronistic roadmaps. We’re training legions of coal miners while the world has moved on to solar energy.

And while on the homologation or how left-handed cars roll off assembly lines vis-a-vis right-handed cars, here is a limerick and a pun:

The rule of the road is a paradox quite/you are wrong if you drive on the right. While the traffic rules have changed, there is chaos on the roads/that is the actual state of affairs.

The irony is that we have all the resources to change course: government support, demographic dividend, and a burgeoning tech ecosystem. But the leaders of our higher ed institutions are asleep at the wheel. They are content with their archaic syllabi which will leave the nation’s youth stranded at the gates of modern industry. They are leading institutions that are no longer centres of learning; they are factories of unemployment.

It’s high time for the education system to stop being the problem and start being part of the solution. Education must pivot to nurture creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving. Until then, it remains the largest unemployment generator — the greatest disservice of all.

If education were truly a service, why are we producing graduates with obsolete skills? It seems more focused on self-preservation than empowerment. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping the economy, demanding nimble thinkers and adaptable minds, even as universities keep churning out rigid, formulaic talent.

Against this grim backdrop, the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi is like a lighthouse. A visionary Vice Chancellor, Dr. Mahesh Verma, is ploughing through cutting the ice of inertia in this metaphorical Antarctica. The university has reimagined its curriculum, infusing AI into every course. Each student carries AI agent, an Einstein-grade companion that transforms learning. These agents simplify complex concepts, help students build businesses, identify target audiences, and craft value propositions. By the time students graduate they have built ventures and solved real-world problems. Professors no longer repeat obsolete lessons. They co-create and guide students toward outcome-oriented thriving careers instead of cookie cutting gram flour (besan) biscuits on an assembly line.

This model must be replicated nationwide. If every institution embraces AI-driven learning, we’d crank the educational ecosystem into high gear. Innovation would be lubricated, and institutions would become engines of employment. If we embrace this model, our education system will finally fuel the nation’s future, not hold it back.

The Indian education system, meant to be a beacon of opportunity, has instead become a factory of unemployment, perpetuating the very problem it was meant to solve. In the new AI age, this failure is glaring