American billionaire and tech investor Vinod Khosla says college degrees are becoming obsolete, thanks to AI-driven education tools that outperform even the best human tutors.

In a sweeping conversation on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, Vinod Khosla laid out a bold vision: a future where artificial intelligence not only democratizes access to top-tier education but also upends traditional professions in law, medicine, and finance.

“If every child in India has a free AI tutor—something entirely possible today—it would be better than the best education a rich person can buy,” said Khosla, referencing CK-12, an ed-tech company founded by his wife. 

He believes AI tutors could soon replace expensive private instructors, offering continuous, on-demand learning far beyond the scope of traditional schooling.

According to Khosla, this would allow students to pivot between disciplines without the years-long commitment of formal college education. 

“You don’t have to go back to college for three or five years to switch from electrical engineering to mechanical engineering—or from medicine to something else,” he said.

The billionaire didn’t stop at education. He envisioned a future where legal and medical expertise becomes universally accessible via AI. 

“Imagine every lawyer was free. Every judge was free,” he said, arguing that AI could reduce the bottlenecks in India’s overburdened courts and provide justice to those who currently can’t afford representation.

Khosla also predicted AI would soon outperform human financial advisors, regardless of a person’s income. 

“Even someone making 5,000 rupees a month will get the best wealth advisor—because it’s in the system. And someone making more won’t get a better one,” he said.

In his view, AI isn’t just a technological upgrade—it’s a societal equalizer. Degrees and gatekeepers, he suggests, are relics of the past.