Why Elite Students Are Leaving Harvard and MIT Over AGI Anxiety

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In: AI, Education

A growing number of students at Harvard and MIT are stepping off the traditional academic path—not because they lack ambition, but because Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) might make their degrees obsolete—or even pointless.

AGI: From Future Possibility to Present Anxiety

Leading voices in AI are sounding alarming timelines: Sam Altman of OpenAI warns AGI could arrive before 2029, while Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, sees a “5–10 year” window for its emergence.(Stacker) This isn’t sci-fi—students hear this, and it’s reshaping their choices.

“I Didn’t Expect to Graduate Because of AGI”

Take Alice Blair, a former MIT student. She told Interesting Engineering:

“I was concerned I might not be alive to graduate because of AGI.”
Now, she’s a technical writer at the Center for AI Safety, hoping her work influences the trajectory of AGI rather than being left behind by it.(Interesting Engineering)

Harvard Students: Torn Between Fear and Preparedness

A survey of 326 Harvard undergraduates reveals that 50% worry AI will harm their job prospects, and 40% believe AI extinction risk should be a global priority—on par with pandemics and nuclear war.(arXiv)

Dropping Out to Do—Not to Flee

Many aren’t quitting—they’re pivoting:

  • Adam Kaufman left Harvard to join Redwood Research, tackling “deceptive AI systems” that could pose serious threats.

  • His brother, roommate, and partner followed suit, leaving Harvard to join OpenAI.(Interesting Engineering)

As Nikola Jurković, former Harvard AI safety lead, put it:

“If your career is about to be automated by the end of the decade, every year spent in college is one year subtracted from your short career.”(Interesting Engineering)

The Accelerationists vs. The Doomsayers

Chinese tech media 36Kr sums it up: some students are racing to shape AGI (the “accelerationists”), while others are driven by existential dread (the “doomsayers”).(36Kr)

But Not Everyone Is Convinced

Skeptics are calling it hype:

  • Gary Marcus, AI researcher, dismisses recent AGI fears as “marketing hype,” not evidence.

  • He points out that current AI still struggles with reasoning errors and hallucinations, and that human extinction remains highly unlikely.(Futurism)

The Reality Behind the Anxiety

This trend is more than sensational headlines—it reflects deep cultural shifts in how young people view education, opportunity, and existential risk. For some, AGI isn’t a distant possibility—it’s a present-day reckoning.

For educators and policymakers, this moment signals that:

  • Curriculum must evolve to include AI literacy, ethics, and safety.

  • Support systems are needed for students grappling with AI-induced career anxiety.

  • Dialogue is essential: between fears and opportunities, so “accelerationists” and “doomsayers” can both be heard and supported.

This isn’t just a dropout wave—it’s a wake-up call for everyone invested in the future of education and humanity. The AI era is here. The rules are being rewritten—right now.