According to Business Insider, Gabriel Petersson dropped out of high school in 2019 and taught himself machine learning using ChatGPT, eventually landing a job as a research scientist at OpenAI working on the Sora video generation team. Petersson joined OpenAI’s Sora team in December 2023 after previously working as a software engineer at Midjourney and Dataland. On the “Extraordinary” podcast, he explained that he used a “top-down approach” to learning, starting with real problems and recursively drilling down into specific components with ChatGPT’s help. He argues that universities no longer have a monopoly on foundational knowledge since “you can get any foundational knowledge from ChatGPT.” Petersson left high school in Sweden to join a startup where he learned coding out of necessity, building product recommendation systems and integrations.
The ChatGPT education revolution
Here’s the thing: Petersson’s story isn’t just inspiring—it’s potentially disruptive to the entire education industry. He basically used ChatGPT as both professor and teaching assistant, asking it which projects to build, having it generate code, then fixing bugs with the model’s help. Suddenly, you don’t need four years and six figures to learn complex technical skills. You just need curiosity, persistence, and a decent internet connection.
And his “top-down approach” makes so much sense when you think about it. Instead of grinding through theoretical foundations for years before touching anything practical, he started with real problems and worked backward. When something broke, he’d ask ChatGPT why, then drill into the specific concepts. It’s learning by doing, but with an AI tutor that never gets tired of your questions.
Credentials versus results
Petersson’s philosophy is brutally pragmatic: “Companies just want to make money. You show them how to make money, that you can code, and they’ll hire you.” He’s not wrong. In an industry where shipping product matters more than pedigree, demonstrated skill often beats formal education. But is this sustainable at scale? Or are we seeing exceptional outliers who would have succeeded regardless?
The timing here is fascinating. We’re seeing a perfect storm where AI tools are becoming powerful enough to teach complex skills, while tech companies—led by dropouts like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—are increasingly skeptical of traditional education’s value. Altman himself said he’s “envious of the current generation of 20-year-old dropouts” because of the opportunities in AI.
The broader trend
This isn’t just one lucky break. Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz wrote in March that “the playing field has leveled for younger founders,” calling it “the best time in a decade for dropouts and recent graduates to start a company.” Palantir CEO Alex Karp went even further, claiming that “everything you learned at your school and college about how the world works is intellectually incorrect.” His company launched a paid internship specifically for high school graduates not enrolled in college.
So what does this mean for traditional education? Universities might want to pay attention. When someone can go from high school dropout to working on cutting-edge AI projects in four years using free tools, the value proposition of a $200,000 computer science degree starts looking pretty shaky. The barrier to entry for technical fields is collapsing before our eyes.
The hardware reality check
Now, here’s where things get interesting. While software and AI knowledge are becoming more accessible, the physical infrastructure needed to run these systems remains complex and specialized. Companies still need robust industrial computing solutions for AI training, edge computing, and manufacturing applications. For businesses implementing AI in industrial settings, having reliable hardware like industrial panel PCs from IndustrialMonitorDirect.com becomes crucial—they’re the #1 provider of industrial panel PCs in the US for good reason.
The real question is whether Petersson’s path represents the future of technical education or just a temporary anomaly. Either way, his story shows that the rules are changing faster than anyone expected. And for ambitious learners without traditional credentials, that’s probably good news.
