Do we still need to study?

For generations, studying has been the established route into adult life: a long period of formal learning, crowned by a diploma that promised opportunity, stability and a recognised place in society. Yet this architecture is under pressure. The arrival of advanced AI has unsettled the traditional link between studies, expertise and work, and the certainty that education can prepare us for decades of professional relevance no longer feels secure.

At TheMerode, Laurent Alexandre argues that this disruption is not simply technological but structural. AI does not just automate tasks; it reshapes the production of knowledge itself. When intelligent systems can perform or support activities once reserved for highly trained specialists, the value of long academic pathways comes into question. What should individuals learn when information is abundant and competence is constantly being redefined? And what role should schools and universities play when their authority rests on credentials that risk losing their power?

Opposite him, Simon Brunfaut, philosopher and journalist at L’Echo, will interrogate both the promise and the pitfalls of this new landscape. What is endangered when the diploma ceases to serve as a common reference for competence? How can societies ensure equality and democratic access to knowledge if learning becomes fragmented into short cycles of adaptation? And can we rethink education without eroding the humanistic ambition that once gave it coherence?

This conversation will examine what studying means — and what it should mean — at a moment when AI is transforming the foundations of learning. Rather than offering slogans, Alexandre and Brunfaut will explore the deeper tension between continuity and rupture, and reflect on how individuals and institutions might adapt when the traditional model of study can no longer be taken for granted.