In the kind of “only in 2025” story that makes you stop and say wait… what?, a high school dropout has managed to literally teach himself Ph.D.-level artificial intelligence using ChatGPT and is now a research scientist at OpenAI working on its cutting-edge Sora team.
Meet Gabriel Petersson a Swedish kid who dropped out of high school back in 2019 to chase his passion for tech, instead of textbooks. No diploma. No fancy CS degree. Just hustle, curiosity… and a very smart chatbot.
In a recent episode of the Extraordinary podcast, Petersson dropped this gem: “Universities don’t have a monopoly on foundational knowledge anymore you can just get any foundational knowledge from ChatGPT.” He used the AI to break down complex machine‑learning concepts, tackle real research problems, and essentially build his own graduate‑level education from scratch.
The result? After gigs at places like Midjourney and Dataland, Petersson joined OpenAI’s Sora research team in December doing work you’d normally expect from someone with a Ph.D.
This isn’t some “internet flex” it’s a legit example of how access to powerful AI tools can radically democratize learning and career pathways. No fancy credentials required anymore… just results, grit, and the willingness to master insanely hard topics one prompt at a time.
Love it or hate it, this story raises a huge question:
Are degrees losing their value if self‑taught AI experts can get into the world’s top labs?
One thing’s for sure; the future of learning just got a whole lot more unpredictable.
