Summary: Steven Johnson argues that the rise of AI makes humanities skills increasingly valuable in the tech world, as clear communication is essential for interacting with language models. While there is still a demand for technical skills, understanding ethics and philosophy is becoming more relevant. This shift highlights the importance of blending human intelligence with AI to create innovative solutions.
People who have command of clear and persuasive prose have a competitive advantage right now in the tech sector, or really in any sector that is starting to embrace AI. Communication skills have always been an asset, of course, but thanks to language models they are now a technical asset (View Highlight)
This idea of the model not as a replacement for human intelligence, but instead tool for synthesizing or connecting human intelligence seems to be gathering steam right now, which is good to see. (View Highlight)
language models are not intelligent in the ways that even small children are intelligent, but they are already superhuman at tasks like summarization, translation (both linguistic and conceptual), and association. And when you apply those skills to artfully curated source material written by equally, but differently, gifted humans, magic can happen. (View Highlight)