Why AI companies are hiring philosophers to help develop their models
Page 1/6

By Linah Mohammad, Scott Detrow, Mallory Yu

Tuesday, July 7, 2026 • 4:59 PM EDT

Heard on All Things Considered Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

For years, the conventional wisdom has been that if you want to work in tech, you should learn to code, and if you want a job anywhere, you should avoid liberal arts majors like philosophy. But that is all changing as AI has endangered coding and a growing number of AI labs have been looking for new hires from a surprising pool of candidates. That is right - philosophers. That is, people who have thought deeply about ethics, reasoning and human decision-making. Benjamin Sutherland recently wrote about this phenomenon for The Economist and joins us now to talk more about it. Welcome.

BENJAMIN SUTHERLAND: Thank you, Scott. Glad to be here.

DETROW: Let's just start with the why. Why are AI companies looking for philosophers right now?

Next
Back to headlines
News menu
Home