AI /Reid Hoffman interview: “revenge of the English major”

[Anonymous]

AI will make English majors even less necessary. Companies do not need perfect / poetic English, just the “good enough” that AI provides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

humanities majors wouldn't be doing any of that stuff.
they'd be taking what the tech people do and refining it. So manage the techies.

Most lawyers are humanities majors undergrad. I don’t know what creatives would be considered…but certainly not STEM or quantitative.

Once more, the number of humanities majors at this actual company are outnumbered 20-to-1 by STEM and quantitative folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

Maybe google instead of asking people to do the work for you????

Why Google Hires Humanities Majors?
https://imagine.jhu.edu/blog/2024/02/15/why-google-hires-humanities-majors/

I'm an AI startup founder and love hiring liberal arts grads. They give us a surprising edge.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-companies-hiring-liberal-arts-humanities-grads-2024-2

Why Studying Humanities and Arts Is Key to Developing Artificial Intelligence
https://bigcloud.global/why-studying-humanities-and-arts-is-key-to-developing-artificial-intelligence/

Humanities majors still matter in age of AI
https://www.emorywheel.com/article/2024/11/humanities-majors-still-matter-in-age-of-ai

How will the rise of AI in the workplace impact liberal arts education?
https://www.highereddive.com/news/artificial-intelligence-liberal-arts-education/720640/

The first two articles don’t support your point at all so I didn’t bother going further.

First article says Google likes some variety in hiring but mostly hires technical folks. Same comment for GS.

Second article says they hire many liberal arts grads in fields like data science and other quantitative area…CS, Math, physics are taught in the liberal arts. Says they like the humanities aspects of this liberal arts education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

humanities majors wouldn't be doing any of that stuff.
they'd be taking what the tech people do and refining it. So manage the techies.

Most lawyers are humanities majors undergrad. I don’t know what creatives would be considered…but certainly not STEM or quantitative.

Once more, the number of humanities majors at this actual company are outnumbered 20-to-1 by STEM and quantitative folks.

+1 people here are delusional. You can only have so many managers in a company when staff are being reduced by AI. Having strong stem skills is the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

This is a small company in a not very interesting industry. Doesn't need great advertising.

Also service chatbots usually suck. So that just means the Klarna brand is not based on excellent customer service.

It's true that some businesses can get by being mediocre. But that's only some employers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

This is a small company in a not very interesting industry. Doesn't need great advertising.

Also service chatbots usually suck. So that just means the Klarna brand is not based on excellent customer service.

It's true that some businesses can get by being mediocre. But that's only some employers.

Missing the forest for the trees.

You don’t think everyone that owns a company isn’t reading this article and wondering how they can do the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they already are asking for english, history, philosophy and classics.

No one wants a CS coder....

Elon Musk does for his coup and taking over treasury payments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

Link? I couldn’t find it online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone catch the Fareed Zakaria interview today with Hoffman on the impact of AI on job market/new world order with AI, and that yrs the “revenge of the English major” - meaning it’s a valuable major now in a world where other tasks are commoditized and diminished in value?

I watched it. His point was that English majors (and equivalent humanities majors) are better at crafting prompts than STEM folks. Generative AI is fueled by natural language prompts, so the ability to translate various business needs into clear, effective prompts is crucial to the success of AI.

People should read the NYT article about how the CEO of Klarna is just giddy about replacing people with AI.

His examples:

- got rid of most of the marketing and creatives working on advertising and marketing because AI can produce what’s needed for corporate marketing

- reduced in-house legal staff because AI can do first drafts of standard corporate contracts and any legal research

- replaced most customer support people with AI chatbots

He hasn’t hired anyone since 2023 even though the company is much larger.

No surprise, most of the existing 2000 employees are technical employees.

So again, can anyone tell me what all these humanities majors will actually be hired to do in this AI future?

This is a small company in a not very interesting industry. Doesn't need great advertising.

Also service chatbots usually suck. So that just means the Klarna brand is not based on excellent customer service.

It's true that some businesses can get by being mediocre. But that's only some employers.

For a small company, klarna is everywhere. Seriously, go shop for clothes and you’ll likely see a klarna option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they already are asking for english, history, philosophy and classics.

No one wants a CS coder....

CS from the elites is still doing very well. English/classics/philosophy are more and more in demand every day. Though too it is much easier in those majors from elites.

Evidence of those majors being more in demand? Classics departments across the country are crumbling. Philosophy departments hardly have any majors. English is and always will be popular.

+1 Not seeing it in the workplace. But, English majors with just an undergrad don't get paid that well, except from elite schools.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/highest-paying-college-majors/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AI will make English majors even less necessary. Companies do not need perfect / poetic English, just the “good enough” that AI provides.

+1 The only English majors I know had to go to grad school to get a job. And it's not like they went to a no name u. They went to a well known public ivy.

[Anonymous]

I am a liberal arts major who works in AI. You cannot be scared of coding for substantive roles in AI, but key roles in which I see a lot of liberal arts majors thrive are product - figuring out that to build, developer advocacy /community roles that are critical for open source, and documentation - now incredibly important as folks are sic-ing copilots on documentation to write code. And of course sales- folks don’t realize that in tech sellers often make more than most of the Eng team at a similar level of experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a liberal arts major who works in AI. [b]You cannot be scared of coding for substantive roles in AI, [url]but key roles in which I see a lot of liberal arts majors thrive are product - figuring out that to build, developer advocacy /community roles that are critical for open source, and documentation - now incredibly important as folks are sic-ing copilots on documentation to write code. And of course sales- folks don’t realize that in tech sellers often make more than most of the Eng team at a similar level of experience.

Coding is paramount for AI. Google it.

[Anonymous]

Standup for English major’s because we have rites, too. Some one have to know the difference between stationary and stationery and be able to conjugate the pass tense of verbs. You only think your a good writer but I know and you’re colleagues know that you write runon sentences and has terrible grammer spelling and use age even though English is you’re Native language and you even have a collage degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Standup for English major’s because we have rites, too. Some one have to know the difference between stationary and stationery and be able to conjugate the pass tense of verbs. You only think your a good writer but I know and you’re colleagues know that you write runon sentences and has terrible grammer spelling and use age even though English is you’re Native language and you even have a collage degree.

These issues are taught in k-12, not collegiate English. University English is about tracing from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Pound and Zukofsky to understand literary tradition.