Consuming Knowledge Isn’t Hot Right Now

My sister is a college junior, and I can’t remember a recent phone call of ours where she didn’t drop some anecdote or statistic about how bad the job market is right now.

Recent college graduate unemployment hit 5.8% in early 2025 - the highest since 2021. Underemployment is at 41.2%. Then I opened the New York Times this weekend to find: “The Newest Face of Long-Term Unemployment? The College Educated.” 

My initial concern was that the influx of damning statistics would inspire a sense of learned helplessness. What is there to aspire to when every headline suggests no opportunity will exist by the time you graduate?

I assumed the promise of AI - efficiency without effort - would only reinforce the tired complaints about Gen Z's work ethic. 

But I wanted to believe there was another story here.

I talked to 25 college students to understand how they're actually processing this disruption. I expected to meet a generation paralyzed by uncertainty. Instead, I found students who had fundamentally reimagined their relationship with learning and, subsequently, their sense of purpose.

These were primarily True Ventures fellows - students with early AI access and the time to experiment with it. I recognize that their optimism reflects privileges many graduates do not have - and I believe the questions they’re asking and the bets they’re making preview a broader shift in how young people relate to their futures.

One student put it bluntly: “AI allows you to circumvent the ten thousand hours. But if you want real mastery, you still need to put in the ten thousand hours. I try to make sure I'm doing that for the stuff that I really want to master, and for the stuff that doesn't matter as much, I’m fine to just get a surface layer understanding.”

Another interjected, “Consuming knowledge isn’t hot right now.” 

I laughed, and asked what they meant. 

They explained that passively obtaining information for the sake of it feels pointless when they've watched people before them follow all the rules and still not get rewarded as promised. Being a good student who memorizes what they're told matters isn't enough anymore - especially without the pairing of skills to make use of it.

Their skepticism towards expected paths of execution suggests something more fundamental: a reimagining of what success looks like. When I asked about their future aspirations, they didn't speak with the defeated tone I'd anticipated - but with an expansive and urgent agency.

“I think in the new world that we're shifting into there isn't any catching up. You can just start from where you are. There's no ladder to climb.”

The guise of traditional progression is gone. I often find myself protectively mourning the loss of predictability. They seem emboldened by it.

“I think there's way more opportunities to work on projects that you genuinely care about. Whereas before, it was like the consulting system where you have to do time and learn your skills in industry to then be able to pivot to work on the stuff that actually matters to you. And now, you can just go and do what you're most passionate about, immediately.”

They told me they care less about working at a cool company and more about "doing a cool job and working with cool people.” They’re prioritizing people over prestige. They want to be at a place that teaches them how to identify and solve problems, rather than execute someone else’s predetermined solutions.

They believe we’re entering an economy where technical skills are commoditized, but they're hedging that self-expression and problem identification will persist as the scarcest resources. 

“I think at this point, there is no longer any knowledge based job that AI won’t be able to do way better than me in a few years.”

I asked what is hot now, if not consuming knowledge. 

There were some smiles around the group. One student said, “All I want to do now is learn how to paint and dance and write really cool pieces about myself.” 

My grandfather would roll his eyes at that response. The ability to redirect energy from professional trajectories to personal pursuits likely reflects the distinct privileges of highly educated students from the top universities. But I think the question they’re grappling with - what would you do that is uniquely you if AI does the rest - is worth entertaining for all of us.

In their view, they’re not abandoning ambition. They’re redirecting it. To them, it’s hotter today to demonstrate agency, to determine what types of knowledge is important for themselves, and to pursue intrinsic curiosity rather than chase extrinsic success indicators. 

I don’t know if they’re right about which skills will be rewarded in the coming years. But watching them navigate this moment with such intentionality and agency, I'm starting to think that’s the story here: while many onlookers are paralyzed trying to predict what will be lost, these students are focused on creating what comes next. They’re positioning themselves for possibilities that don’t yet exist.