That humanities degree might come in handy if you want a job in AI, the editorial director at Google's NotebookLM says

Steven Johnson, the editorial director of NotebookLM, emphasizes the growing importance of humanities skills in the tech industry, particularly for roles related to AI. With the emergence of AI technologies, skills such as philosophy and psychology are becoming essential for addressing complex ethical questions. Johnson argues that this represents a reversal of traditional views, highlighting the value of humanities graduates in tech roles today. He cites the example of Amanda Askell, whose work in AI character training exemplifies the intersection of philosophical inquiry and technological development.

"There's just a whole set of questions around AI that no one was thinking about, except for philosophers, until about two years ago," Johnson said, adding that "those kinds of philosophical skills are really important."

In a June interview posted by Anthropic on YouTube, Askell said philosophy doesn't always line up with every aspect of her work, but building Claude's character feels "philosophically rich." She said she has to work through complex questions like whether AI models should have moral considerations and what human principles they should be trained on.

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