Anthropic Cofounder Explains Why English Major Was a Good Idea
Key Takeaways
- Jack Clark is a cofounder of Anthropic and a former journalist who majored in English Literature as an undergraduate.
- In a new interview, Clark explained why his degree was “useful” — he “got to learn a lot about history” and “about the kind of stories that we tell ourselves about the future.”
- Clark said that majors that seem out of place in the age of AI can actually turn out to be valuable.
Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark was a liberal arts major in college and found it to be “extremely relevant for AI.”
At Semafor’s World Economy Summit earlier this week, Clark, a former journalist who studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, explained why his degree was an asset in the era of AI.
“What turned out to be useful is that I got to learn a lot about history and a lot about the kind of stories that we tell ourselves about the future,” Clark said. “That’s turned out to be extremely relevant for AI in a way that I think people wouldn’t have predicted.”
He said that the best majors to study are the ones that involve “synthesis across a whole variety of subjects” and require “analytical thinking.” The most important skills to learn, according to Clark, are “knowing the right questions to ask” and bringing together insights across disciplines.
Clark said that even majors that seem out of place in the age of AI can still prove valuable. He noted, for example, that Anthropic hires philosophers. “When was the last time you heard that a philosophy degree was a great job prospect?” he asked.
When it comes to fields to avoid, Clark said that he would not major in “rote programming” in college, because AI can handle that task.
His colleagues agree with him. Boris Cherny, creator of Anthropic’s popular AI coding tool Claude Code, predicted in February that software engineering would cease to exist as a field this year as AI automates the field. “I think we’re going to start to see the title ‘software engineer’ go away,” Cherny said in an interview with Y Combinator’s “Lightcone” podcast.
Another Anthropic exec majored in literature
Clark isn’t the only Anthropic cofounder with a liberal arts background. Anthropic cofounder and president Daniela Amodei majored in English Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for her undergrad studies. She told ABC News earlier this year that she has “zero regrets” about skipping a technical degree.
“In a world where AI is very smart and capable of doing so many things, the things that make us human will become much more important,” Amodei told ABC News. She said understanding ourselves, our history and “what makes us tick” are valuable capabilities.
Amodei said that her humanities background honed her critical thinking skills and allowed her to learn how to interact with people. She added that Anthropic hires people who have majored in the liberal arts, valuing communication skills, good people skills and kindness above all other traits, including technical skills.
“At the end of the day, people still really like interacting with people,” Amodei said. “In an ideal world, AI will complement those skills.”
Anthropic is rapidly growing. In February, the AI startup raised $30 billion at a $380 billion valuation, the second-biggest tech raise ever, trailing only OpenAI’s $40 billion raise last year.
Key Takeaways
- Jack Clark is a cofounder of Anthropic and a former journalist who majored in English Literature as an undergraduate.
- In a new interview, Clark explained why his degree was “useful” — he “got to learn a lot about history” and “about the kind of stories that we tell ourselves about the future.”
- Clark said that majors that seem out of place in the age of AI can actually turn out to be valuable.
Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark was a liberal arts major in college and found it to be “extremely relevant for AI.”
At Semafor’s World Economy Summit earlier this week, Clark, a former journalist who studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, explained why his degree was an asset in the era of AI.
“What turned out to be useful is that I got to learn a lot about history and a lot about the kind of stories that we tell ourselves about the future,” Clark said. “That’s turned out to be extremely relevant for AI in a way that I think people wouldn’t have predicted.”
