Artificial intelligence has crossed a significant threshold by scoring full marks at the 2026 International Mathematical Olympiad, matching the best human contestants. The result should change how we think about education. As AI takes over more technical tasks, a technical degree is becoming the foundation, not the finish line. Employers will value distinctly human capabilities such as critical thinking. AI can draft reports and analyse information, but it cannot weigh competing values, make independent decisions or take responsibility for them. In India, critical thinking and formal reasoning must be taught from the foundational years and reinforced through higher education. The lesson is not that knowledge matters less, but that judgement matters more than ever.
