Geoffrey Hinton, a seminal figure in AI, warned that corporate bets on artificial intelligence assume massive worker replacement is necessary for investors to profit. He argued that to justify the enormous capital expenditures of hyperscalers, firms are counting on AI to substitute human labour at scale. Hinton pointed to rising capex by Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon and said job displacement may be an intended economic outcome of the AI business model. He highlighted the uncertain prospects for job creation that historically followed other technological shifts. For higher education, Hinton’s comments underline potential contractions in entry‑level employment, a shifting demand for skills and the need for universities to rethink career preparation, reskilling programs and research priorities in an era of accelerated automation.