Workers with college degrees in philosophy and other humanities will have a hard time finding jobs as artificial intelligence takes over the US economy, Palantir CEO Alex Karp cautioned Tuesday.
Karp issued the warning after BlackRock CEO Larry Fink asked him if AI will “create jobs or destroy jobs overall” during a wide-ranging discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“It will destroy humanities jobs,” Karp replied. “[If] you went to an elite school and you studied philosophy — I’ll use myself as an example — hopefully you have some other skill. That one is going to be hard to market.”
Karp, 58, is known for his unorthodox path to leading a top-tier tech company. He earned a a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Haverford College, a JD from Stanford Law School and later a Ph.D. in philosophy from the prestigious Goethe University in Germany before cofounding Palantir alongside billionaire Peter Thiel in 2003.
The Palantir boss did not point to specific fields that would face job losses, though graduates in the humanities often pursue careers in academia, law and government.
When prodded by Fink, Karp said white collar jobs would likely see some upheaval as a result of AI, while vocational career paths that are typically categorized as blue collar will thrive.
As an example, Karp pointed to vocational technicians who are building batteries and other components for tech companies.
“If you’re a vocational technician … [they are] very valuable if not irreplaceable because we can make them into something different than what they were very rapidly. Those jobs are going to become more valuable,” Karp said.
Overall, he believes there will be “more than enough jobs for the citizens of your nation, especially those with vocational training.” Employers, meanwhile, will need to develop “different ways of testing aptitude” beyond academic degrees to get the most out of their workers.
During the Davos discussion, Karp and Fink agreed that an education in the humanities was already “hard to market” even before AI reshaped the economy.
“It was hard to market. Very hard,” Karp said. “It’s a very, very strong education. If you can get a job, you might keep it. That’s what I always thought, if I finally get a job, I’ll probably keep it and do well, but I’m not sure who’s going to give me my first job.”
A number of tech executives have previously warned that AI will result in job losses, especially in white-collar fields.
Last May, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned of potential mass layoffs in fields like tech, finance and law that could push national unemployment to 20%.
As The Post reported in December, Karp, who has described himself as neurodivergent, recently announced that Palantir would offer a new fellowship program specifically crafted for neurodivergent talent.
The program was announced shortly after Karp faced social media snark after he was seen fidgeting in his chair and waving his arms throughout an interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin during the New York Times’ DealBook Summit.
