I’ve recently been having a strong intuition: maybe in the future, the traditional educational path of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees will become worthless, or even completely obsolete...

The reason is so damn simple: AI has directly boosted human knowledge acquisition efficiency by several levels.
Imagine how terrifying this scenario is: now, an ordinary high school student with a quick mind, just needs to know how to use AI large models as personal tutors, grind away for a year or so, and they can crush a specialized field. They can reach the professional level that today’s master’s or even doctoral students spend seven or eight years to achieve. In the face of this kind of dimensionality reduction, looking back at the current long-winded, rigid, and outdated university education system feels like a "speed bump" in the new era.
It’s no longer a stepping stone to success; it’s very likely slowing you down in getting work done and making money. Face a harsh reality:
The old diploma game is almost over, and AI is about to completely overturn this traditional educational card game.