Brilliant guys in Google invited me to speak before computer science and engineering educators and professors in Africa today. This is a short overview of the second part of my presentation. The second part is titled “From Knowledge Transfer to Capability Accumulation: from Computer Science to Competence Science”
In the age of Generative AI, we are witnessing one of the most profound shifts in the history of education and human productivity. For decades, universities, especially in Computer science and engineering, have operated under a knowledge-transfer model. The assumption was simple: if students mastered programming languages, and coding, they would be equipped to compete in the global economy. That assumption is now largely obsolete. Generative AI has made coding abundant!
Today, machines can generate software, debug systems, optimize architectures, and translate across programming languages with astonishing speed. Tasks that once took teams of engineers weeks can now be completed in hours. When a skill becomes abundant, it loses its scarcity value. And when scarcity moves, so must education. The competitive advantage of nations and institutions is no longer determined by who teaches the most syntax, but by who cultivates the deepest capabilities.
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This is the transition from knowledge transfer to capability accumulation. Yes, replace Computer Science with Competence Science!
To be clear, coding remains important. But it is no longer the differentiator. Knowing how to write code in a world where AI writes better code is like knowing how to operate a typewriter in the age of cloud computing. The locus of value has shifted upward, to judgment, synthesis, context, and the ability to frame meaningful problems.
Generative AI can answer how to build. Humans must still decide what to build, why it matters, and for whom it should exist. These are not coding questions; they are capability questions. As educators, in this AI era, we must move from being transmitters of knowledge to designers of learning ecosystems.
I used a smiling curve to explain that coding is now at the centre with only marginal value while the core value of market creation and design are at the edges. Unless you expand what we teach in those coding classes to capture the components at the edges, students will graduate into a world that does not need their services.
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