{
  "id": 8474283,
  "title": "Anthropic billionaire cofounder Jack Clark studied literature, not code—and says liberal arts degrees will win in the AI age",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/19/anthropic-billionaire-cofounder-jack-clark-studied-literature-not",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-19T13:05:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/article/anthropic-jack-clark-liberal-arts-degree-ai-jobs-stem-computer-science-philosophy-critical-thinking-future-of-work/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Jack Clark, cofounder of Anthropic and a former journalist, has argued that liberal arts degrees will gain importance in the AI age. Clark, who majored in English literature and creative writing, believes his liberal arts education has been instrumental in his career. He has emphasized that learning about history and story-telling has been \"extremely relevant\" for AI in a way that might not have been predicted.\n\nClark advises young people to focus on asking the right questions and having intuitions about how different insights from various disciplines can collide. He cautions against pursuing \"rote programming\" and suggests that degrees involving synthesis across a broad range of subjects and analytical thinking will become increasingly relevant in the future.\n\nThe rise of AI has led to concerns about job displacement. A report by Anthropic researchers found that AI could theoretically take over 94% of computer and math tasks. However, there are indications that liberal arts degrees may be gaining relevance in the tech sector. Microsoft's chief scientist, Jaime Teevan, believes that a liberal arts education is crucial for developing soft skills such as flexibility, adaptability, and critical thinking.\n\nMichael Oakes, executive vice president for research and economic development at Case Western Reserve University, sees a shift in the labor market towards a human layer of rigorous critical reasoning, as AI lowers the barrier to technical execution. Some nontraditional positions in tech are also growing, with Alphabet's DeepMind AI lab hiring philosophers to address ethical questions surrounding AI.\n\nAnthropic also employs philosophers, according to Clark, highlighting that a liberal arts degree can be a great job prospect in the AI age.",
  "summary": "Anthropic’s liberal-arts-educated cofounder says “rote programming” is best avoided.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}