RGV says NEET debate is pointless, warns AI will make degrees 'mere paper'

Ram Gopal Varma argued in a post on Monday that AI, not NEET, is the bigger crisis for students. He said the old education model is collapsing as degrees, ranks and entry-level jobs lose relevance.Ram Gopal Varma says NEET isn't the issue; declares AI will replace doctors, lawyers, engineers (Photo: Instagram/@rgvzoomin)Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has weighed in on the debate around NEET, arguing that the real crisis facing students is not the medical entrance exam but the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. In a strongly worded post on X, he said while controversies around NEET expose a troubled education system, AI threatens to fundamentally reshape the future of learning and employment.Referring to NEET paper leaks, cancelled exams and student suicides, Varma said these incidents reflect a system under strain, but insisted they pale in comparison to the disruption AI is set to bring. According to him, the education system was designed for an era when knowledge was scarce and students were prepared for predictable careers – a reality he believes no longer exists.Security is shattered by AI: RGVSharing his views, Varma wrote, "NEET is not the issue. AI is." He said NEET leaks, cancelled exams and student suicides may leave "bodies on the floor and parents screaming", but AI "does not wound the system. It rips its throat out."He further argued that no one can accurately predict what children should learn today to prepare for a world 10 or 20 years from now because fixed knowledge is becoming obsolete and technical skills are already in their "death throes". According to him, information is no longer scarce but an overwhelming mix of facts, misinformation and propaganda, while AI can process that information far faster than any human.Varma also said the long-held belief that studying hard once guarantees lifelong security has been shattered by AI. In his view, marks, degrees and the ability to memorise facts no longer carry the same value. Instead, he argued, the ability to constantly adapt, learn and reinvent oneself will determine success in an AI-driven world. Using a striking metaphor, Varma compared classrooms, syllabi and entrance examinations to furniture inside a house that is already on fire, with people still arguing over where to place the chairs. He claimed that learning how to use AI is now the only education that truly matters, while traditional professional courses risk becoming outdated.RGV warns studentsHe warned that students pursuing engineering, medicine, law, chartered accountancy, MBA, architecture, design and other professional programmes could be walking into what he described as an "AI slaughterhouse". By the time they graduate, he said, many of those degrees may hold little value as AI systems take over jobs they were once designed to fill.Varma further argued that AI could soon allow a single individual to perform the work of multiple professionals. He said one person using AI could diagnose illnesses, draft legal contracts, design systems, audit accounts, write code and analyse data more efficiently than teams of traditionally trained experts.He questioned the future of students spending four to six years specialising in a single discipline when they could eventually compete with someone using AI to perform multiple roles at lower cost and greater speed.Read his full post here:NEET is not the issueA I isNEET leaks, cancelled exams, student suicides might leave bodies on the floor and parents screaming which might seem brutal in the way the system is being injuredAI does not wound the system.It rips its throat out.For centuries education had one— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) July 27, 2026The filmmaker also claimed that "every tech head in the world" has already declared the death of entry-level jobs.Concluding his post, Varma said students whose courses do not actively teach them to work with AI are being prepared for jobs that may no longer exist. He added that parents who continue to judge their children's future solely by ranks and degrees are "killing their future", while teachers defending outdated curricula are contributing to the decline of careers.- EndsPublished On: Jul 27, 2026 11:50 IST