Kevin SuraceKevin Surace is an AI pioneer, inventor, author, and human effectiveness authority helping people thrive while AI reshapes work and life.

Banning AI Could Leave Students Less Prepared for Work

7 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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In this video, Kevin Surace argues that professors who ban AI tools in coursework are making a critical error. He advises educators to assume students will use AI for all aspects of their assignments and to shift teaching focus toward critical thinking and other higher‑order skills that complement AI usage. Surace draws a parallel to the historical shift when calculators and Excel rendered manual long‑division instruction obsolete, noting that modern workplaces no longer require such skills. He illustrates the hiring impact with a hypothetical comparison: a graduate who refuses to use AI versus one who openly leverages tools like ChatGPT to research, edit, and produce work. According to Surace, the AI‑savvy graduate is far more attractive to employers, reinforcing his claim that proficiency with emerging technology is a decisive factor in employability.

Chapters

Professors say using AI is cheating, but here's why they're making a huge mistake. Here's my take on it, and what I tell the professors: assume that your students are using this for everything. And so how do we still teach kids critical thinking skills and other skills, right? But in this era, well, you know, there was a time that we gave up teaching kids too much of long division because once the calculator came and Excel came, nobody's ever going to ask you to do long division at work, are they? Ever. In fact, If you're doing long division with a paper and pencil, I might terminate you. So now when we look at kids in university, you know who's going to get hired? Okay, there's 2 kids that come out of college this year. One comes out and says, yeah, I've heard about ChatGPT, but I didn't use it. I was told I shouldn't use it. Okay, nice. Next kid comes in and says, all right, I'll be honest with you. I used it for everything. I uploaded documents, I analyzed documents, I edited stuff. Every assignment I did that way and I crushed it. Yeah. So the point is, who gets hired? Well, the second one. The second one, the one who knows how to use the latest technology gets hired all the time. It's always been that way, period, full stop.