College Majors & The Rise of AI

[Anonymous]

I saw this (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cvc6wQt0s7k) video by Mark Cuban stating that humanities degrees will be more in demand than technical degrees due to AI, although it is rather old. Now that it looks like AI is making some big impacts, what do you all think?

Which degrees will be most beneficial for both society and individuals?

[Anonymous]

I asked AI this question about a year ago and got the following advice:

philosophy (especially ethics)
Diplomacy
Performing arts
psychology and psychotherapy
Social work
Nursing
skilled caregiving
Agriculture /farming
Trades: carpentry, plumbing, electrician

made a lot of sense to me — all the IRL stuff & how we put in place AI guardrails

[Anonymous]

I can see English, and other humanities majors focused on writing and analytical thinking.

Also, agribusiness - really niche, but given climate change its growing and can't be replaced by AI - though AI can be involved to improve some efficiencies.

[Anonymous]

Any and every White Collar profession theoretically is at risk with AI.

As an example, NYT said the advertising industry is actually getting hammered right now by AI...and the creatives are the most impacted.

Top Creatives made nominally more in the 1980s then they do today because of AI and digital advertising (and AI's role in data analysis). Everyone in the industry was pissed by Coca Cola's AI commercials...but guess what, the average consumer could care less.

AI is also chipping away at film making...people arent' filming AI scripts, but now AI is used to create storyboards, create digital effects, etc.

The trades are relatively immune...but not completely immune. Supposedly, new HVAC systems, boilers, etc. will incorporate AI technology to make it easier to do DIY stuff and to alert to any major fixes before those fixes are needed. Will eliminate the need for annual maintenance. All these add up to fewer visits from trades people and far fewer emergency fixes (that are usually at a premium).

So...who knows.

[Anonymous]

Psychology majors don’t make a lot and often require a masters, but there will always be demand for in-person therapy. Also Nursing is in high demand, but there’s lots of burnout.

[Anonymous]

this might help:

https://www.ivyscholars.com/which-college-majors-are-most-and-least-vulnerable-to-ai/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psychology majors don’t make a lot and often require a masters, but there will always be demand for in-person therapy. Also Nursing is in high demand, but there’s lots of burnout.

You can't do in-person therapy with a psychology degree just like you can't treat a patient with a biology degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psychology majors don’t make a lot and often require a masters, but there will always be demand for in-person therapy. Also Nursing is in high demand, but there’s lots of burnout.

Will there?

It just isn’t the same, I hear over and over, from psychotherapists shrugging away concern over artificial intelligence. An AI therapist can’t really empathize. It can’t truly understand. It can’t build a therapeutic relationship with depth and connectedness the way a human therapist can.

As a therapist myself, I agree with all of these statements. An AI therapist is not equivalent to a human therapist. Like many therapists, I tend to focus on the ways that AI falls short.

But for clients, in many ways, an AI therapist is better than a human one.

https://www.psychotherapynotes.com/ai-therapist-cant-really-do-therapy/

[Anonymous]

There is a crisis level shortage of teachers, nurses, accountants. Do that or a trade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a crisis level shortage of teachers, nurses, accountants. Do that or a trade.

The majority of American millionaires (I know a million isn't a lot around here but it's still a lot in other parts of the country) own auto dealerships or beverage distribution companies. So whatever major will let you own your own business that might have employees replaced by robots, but not you.

[Anonymous]

Math and engineering degrees are likely safe. Degrees in AI. Corporate sales will always be needed but never been a major for it.

[Anonymous]

My nephew recently graduated with a masters at Johns Hopkins. The majority of Chinese were getting communications degrees….

AI they are on to something

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can see English, and other humanities majors focused on writing and analytical thinking.

Also, agribusiness - really niche, but given climate change its growing and can't be replaced by AI - though AI can be involved to improve some efficiencies.

+1 liberal arts/humanities at an Ivy is going to be in hot demand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see English, and other humanities majors focused on writing and analytical thinking.

Also, agribusiness - really niche, but given climate change its growing and can't be replaced by AI - though AI can be involved to improve some efficiencies.

+1 liberal arts/humanities at an Ivy is going to be in hot demand

AI can take over writing. And if you say, "the writing isn't great..", well AI's coding isn't that advanced for complex systems... yet.

AI is also hitting the legal industry, but spawning a new industry of AI lawyers. That will be the same for programmers.

[Anonymous]

I don’t really see the humanities side of liberal arts getting much popular. There will be pushback against AI writing inevitably and some portion of the lost jobs will come back. The issues with much of the humanities continues to be marketing oneself. In majors like Physics or Math, you have to learn early that if you aren’t getting a PhD, you need to frame your degree in a certain way that’s convincing to Software engineering, finance, and consulting gigs. You have to take certain coursework to call on experiences and demonstrate that interest.

The proportion of English/history majors going into marketing/Law/consulting are and have done a great job. The reality is that academia, publishing, and editorial work is highly exploitative.