Her daughters were CEOs of YouTube and 23andMe. Her advise for parents in the AI era? Send your kids to college.

Esther Wojcicki, mother of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki, advises parents to send their children to college despite the rise of AI, arguing that college develops essential interpersonal skills that cannot be replaced by AI education.

Wondering how to raise a successful kid? The mother of the former CEOs of YouTube and 23andMe says skipping college isn't the way to go, even in the AI era. Esther Wojcicki https://www.businessinsider.com/why-esther-wojcicki-says-fail-fast-and-revise-works-parenting-2026-1 , an educator known as "The Godmother of Silicon Valley" known for sharing advice on raising successful children, is the mother of the late Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's former CEO, Anne Wojcicki, of 23andMe, and Janet Wojcicki, an anthropologist. During an episode of the "Silicon Valley Girl" podcast, posted on June 9, the host Marina Mogilko asked Wojcicki, "Do you think parents should be saving or pushing for college in today's age?" Wojcicki said she believes college is "so important," adding, "People think, 'Oh, we don't need college anymore, they can get it all online.' College is an opportunity for you to hone your interaction with other human beings skills. It's an opportunity for you to grow." "Between the ages of 18 and 22, you have a lot of growing to do, and if you don't interact with other people, you aren't going to get those skills. So you're never going to be able to substitute college with an AI education," she said. Wojcicki's comments add to the debate about how AI is transforming education. Earlier this year, a Gallup survey found that 16% of college students https://www.businessinsider.com/college-students-changing-majors-because-of-ai-2026-4 had changed their major because of the impact that AI might have. Other prominent business leaders to weigh in on how young people should approach their futures in the age of AI include Mark Cuban https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-2-things-kids-getting-job-ai-age-2025-9 . Last year, he said he advised his college-aged children not to look for a job at big companies, since small and medium businesses need more help implementing AI. Echoing Wojcicki's comments on the importance of interpersonal skills, the AI researcher Yoshua Bengio https://www.businessinsider.com/yoshua-bengio-godfather-beautiful-human-ai-2025-12 , known as a "Godfather of AI," has said his advice for his grandson is to "work on the beautiful human being that you can become," since these skills will persist even if machines can someday do most jobs. Do you have a story to share about deciding whether to send your kid to college? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com