Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune; Anthropic billionaire cofounder Jack Clark studied literature, not code—and says liberal arts degrees will win in the AI age
"Liberal arts comeback
At the same time, there is some evidence a liberal arts degree is becoming more relevant, at least in tech. Jaime Teevan, Microsoft’s chief scientist, said earlier this year a liberal arts education will be important for developing the soft skills that are still needed when other work is delegated to AI.
“Metacognitive skills will be very important—flexibility, adaptability, experimentation, thinking critically, being able to challenge things. Developing critical-thinking skills requires friction, doing things that are hard, doing deep thinking,” Teevan told The Wall Street Journal.
Michael Oakes, the executive vice president for research and economic development at Case Western Reserve University, told Fortune a classical liberal arts degree will be important because it develops workers who can navigate deep nuance and culture—qualities he said AI cannot replicate.
“As AI lowers the barrier to technical execution, the labor market premium is shifting toward a human layer of rigorous critical reasoning,” Oakes said."
