Severance Packages & Education in the Age of AI

AI is automating jobs faster than we can replace them. Entrepreneurship is the only safety net. The AI era will divide economies into two types of workers: those waiting for jobs to be created for them, and those capable of creating value on their own. Entrepreneurial education determines which side we end up on.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the global economy at a pace few predicted and even fewer are prepared for. Over the past decade—and especially in the past three years—AI has moved from automating routine tasks to performing activities once considered the exclusive domain of highly skilled professionals. Software development, product design, customer insights, financial modeling, even creative production: AI now tackles these functions with a level of sophistication and speed that fundamentally changes how work gets done. And the velocity of this shift suggests we are still in the early innings.

For business leaders, HR executives, and educators, the implications are profound. Job disruption is no longer a distant possibility—it is happening now. Over recent quarters, companies across sectors have quietly but steadily reduced headcount as automation has proven more cost-effective, more scalable, and often more accurate than traditional labor. This is not a commentary on corporate strategy so much as a recognition of economic reality: when technology reliably performs at a fraction of the cost, organizations have little choice but to adapt.

The question we now face is not whether the nature of work is changing, but how society intends to respond. Two issues deserve urgent attention. First, what responsibility do companies have toward employees whose roles are displaced by automation? Severance packages traditionally focus on financial support, outplacement, or career counseling, but these approaches may not be enough in a world where entire job categories are rapidly disappearing. Second, what skills should we prioritize for future generations—skills that cannot be easily automated and that empower individuals to thrive in a digitally accelerated economy?

One answer sits at the intersection of both challenges: entrepreneurial education. If AI is automating jobs faster than new ones emerge, then the most effective antidote to unemployment is enabling people to create economic value for themselves and others.

Historically, entrepreneurship has served as a powerful counterforce to poverty, stagnation, and structural job loss. Equipping individuals with the mindset and tools to identify opportunities, test ideas, and build solutions may be one of the most sustainable forms of workforce resilience available to us.

Yet entrepreneurial education remains largely misunderstood. Many assume that entrepreneurship is simply about business ideas—and that most people do not have them. In reality, ideas are abundant. They are a “dime a dozen,” as any experienced VC will tell you. People generate ideas for new services, new digital products, community-level solutions, and workplace innovations every day.

What they lack is not imagination but AI awareness. Few truly recognize how dramatically AI has lowered the barriers to entry for starting a venture. Tasks that once required months of labor and a team of specialists—branding, prototyping, customer research, basic software development—can now be done in days or even hours with accessible, affordable AI tools.

The democratization of capability is one of the most underappreciated shifts of our time. A single individual with a laptop now has access to resources once reserved for funded startups or large organizations with dedicated development teams.

AI can draft pitches, conduct market scans, generate design assets, build technical proofs of concept, and support early-stage customer outreach. The entrepreneurial journey still requires creativity, discipline, and resilience, but the cost of trial-and-error learning has never been lower.

However, teaching people to use AI tools is not enough. Entrepreneurship is fundamentally about solving real problems—problems customers value enough to pay for. That requires empathy, validation, and evidence-based decision-making. If entrepreneurial programs focus solely on technology, they risk producing a generation of AI-proficient builders who create solutions in search of a problem.

This is where design thinking and structured innovation methodologies like Lean Startup become essential. They teach individuals to start with user challenges, not technology; to validate assumptions before scaling; and to approach innovation with humility, curiosity, and rigor. These are capabilities that cannot be automated—at least not any time soon. They draw on human insight, emotional intelligence, systems thinking, and the ability to collaborate across functions and cultures.

For CHROs and corporate leaders, entrepreneurial education represents a chance to rethink what a severance package can do. Rather than offering support that simply bridges people to their next job search, companies can invest in programs that help individuals build their own future. Entrepreneurial training—paired with exposure to AI-powered tools—can give displaced employees a chance not only to re-enter the economy but to participate in shaping it.

For educators and academia, the message is equally clear. As AI continues to transform industries, the value of traditional skills will shift. Technical proficiency remains important, but the ability to identify unmet needs, design meaningful solutions, and navigate uncertainty will become the differentiators of tomorrow’s workforce. Institutions that integrate entrepreneurship, design thinking, and AI literacy into their core curricula will prepare students for a world that rewards adaptability and innovation over memorization and routine.

We stand at a critical inflection point. Automation will continue to displace certain types of work, but it also opens unprecedented opportunities for those equipped to seize them. Entrepreneurial education is not simply a “nice to have” addition to corporate training, severance packages, or university programs—it is a strategic necessity. It empowers individuals to transform disruption into opportunity, and it strengthens societies by enabling more people to contribute to economic growth.

The call to action is straightforward:

– Business leaders and HR professionals: Reimagine severance as a launchpad for entrepreneurship, not just a runway to traditional employment.

– Educators: Make entrepreneurship and design thinking as foundational as math and writing in the age of AI.

In an era defined by rapid technological change, the most important skill we can teach is not how to perform a task, but how to create new value when old models no longer apply. And that is precisely what entrepreneurship—and entrepreneurial education—makes possible.