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Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark was a liberal arts major in college and found it to be \u201cextremely relevant for AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Semafor\u2019s World Economy Summit<\/a> earlier this week, Clark, a former journalist who studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, explained why his degree was an asset in the era of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat turned out to be useful is that I got to learn a lot about history and a lot about the kind of stories that we tell ourselves about the future,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThat\u2019s turned out to be extremely relevant for AI in a way that I think people wouldn\u2019t have predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that the best majors to study are the ones that involve \u201csynthesis across a whole variety of subjects\u201d and require \u201canalytical thinking.\u201d The most important skills to learn, according to Clark, are \u201cknowing the right questions to ask\u201d and bringing together insights across disciplines.<\/p>\n Clark said that even majors that seem out of place in the age of AI can still prove valuable. He noted, for example, that Anthropic hires philosophers. \u201cWhen was the last time you heard that a philosophy degree was a great job prospect?\u201d he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n When it comes to fields to avoid, Clark said that he would not major in \u201crote programming\u201d in college, because AI can handle that task.\u00a0<\/p>\n His colleagues agree with him. Boris Cherny, creator of Anthropic\u2019s popular AI coding tool Claude Code, predicted in February that software engineering would cease to exist as a field this year as AI automates the field. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to start to see the title \u2018software engineer\u2019 go away,\u201d Cherny said in an interview<\/a> with Y Combinator\u2019s \u201cLightcone\u201d podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clark isn\u2019t the only Anthropic cofounder with a liberal arts background. Anthropic cofounder and president Daniela Amodei majored in English Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for her undergrad studies. She told ABC News<\/a> earlier this year that she has \u201czero regrets\u201d about skipping a technical degree.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn a world where AI is very smart and capable of doing so many things, the things that make us human will become much more important,\u201d Amodei told ABC News. She said understanding ourselves, our history and \u201cwhat makes us tick\u201d are valuable capabilities.<\/p>\n Amodei said that her humanities background honed her critical thinking skills and allowed her to learn how to interact with people. She added that Anthropic hires people who have majored in the liberal arts, valuing communication skills, good people skills and kindness above all other traits, including technical skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, people still really like interacting with people,\u201d Amodei said. \u201cIn an ideal world, AI will complement those skills.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthropic is rapidly growing. In February, the AI startup raised $30 billion at a $380 billion valuation, the second-biggest tech raise ever, trailing only OpenAI\u2019s $40 billion raise last year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark was a liberal arts major in college and found it to be \u201cextremely relevant for AI.\u201d<\/p>\nAnother Anthropic exec majored in literature<\/h2>\n
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