5 min read

When we can simply ask AI to produce your work for us, even provide an opinion on historical events, works of art, great literature or philosophical thought, it’s easy to think that a humanities degree is becoming irrelevant. 

However, a humanities degree trains you in critical thinking and being able to question and interpret information, then decide what to do with it. And with the amount of information we receive from AI, these skills have never been more valuable. 

The humanities’ place in an AI-powered world

What are the humanities? The humanities cover a wide range of fields and aren’t as easy as other subjects to categorize. They involve understanding how people think, how cultures evolve and how meaning is created. It’s a broad brush, but it paints very straight lines that directly connect culture, ethics and critical thinking with technology, business, design, law and public policy. And that’s what makes the discipline so critical now. 

It used to be that generating or finding information was the act that took time and skill, but AI now does that for us instantly. The human skills that remain essential today include the ability to evaluate what’s accurate, what’s persuasive, what’s ethical, worth acting on and even what’s culturally appropriate. Our ability to examine a challenge from several angles, analyze it, communicate and connect ideas, and form judgments accordingly is exactly what businesses and organizations need.

What are humanities students doing with AI today?

• compare historical interpretations
• test philosophical arguments
• analyze language
• explore multiple angles of an issue
• critique AI-generated content
• identify bias or missing context

Using AI to critique AI content? Yes, but as a complementary tool for the kind of thinking only a human can do: the critical thinking that students learn at IE School of Arts & Humanities.

How does IE School of Arts & Humanities approach AI?

IE School of Arts & Humanities is an integrated part of a broader cultural and institutional ecosystem, reflecting the humanities’ critical place in society and the world of work. Our students work closely with leading cultural and educational institutions to connect humanistic inquiry with real-life applications. That means talking to curators, policymakers and cultural leaders. It means working on projects that connect big ideas with real-world impact. 

And it means that regardless of your own ambitions—to build a social enterprise, fulfill your passion for the arts or lead corporate strategy at a global level—you’ll develop the tools and understanding you need to pursue them.

“Our mission is to future-forward-thinking professionals, by way of the timeless disciplines of the humanities, who are not only capable of thinking critically and creatively, but who are also doers. That’s why we also equip them with digital capacities.”
Catalina Tejero, Dean of IE School of Arts & Humanities

The humanities provide a foundation for thinking, strategizing and interpreting complexity. But they also open doors to opportunities across sectors. We teach the humanities as a way to connect human intelligence directly to the challenges that need it most.

Why the humanities matter to employers

It would be easy to boil organizations’ need for AI skills down to the simple fact that artificial intelligence is everywhere, so they must recruit from a pool of candidates who are comfortable with it. But that would oversimplify the challenges AI poses across every sector. Nowadays, recruiters are looking for people with a humanities degree and the essential human skills that complement AI:

• making decisions under uncertainty
• communicating across cultures
• weighing the ethical implications of their role and the decisions they’re taking
• interpreting complex information
• connecting ideas across disciplines

These capabilities are relevant across sectors and are needed in a wide range of roles.

In the AI age, companies and organizations demand strategic thinkers who can connect dots others don’t even see yet. That’s the advantage that humanities students graduate with: the capacity to interpret complex scenarios, to value and leverage diversity, to ask better questions and act with judgment under pressure. 

But what exactly do humanities graduates go on to do? Here are some examples:

• In development director roles, relationship builders and mission-driven professionals flourish and earn an average of $97,870 per year in the US.
• In senior communications positions, strategic thinking, cultural fluency and strong writing skills are rewarded highly.
• HR directorship leverages the humanities in people-focused roles, earning an average of $113,044 per year in the US.
• Regulatory affairs management combines a need for ethical rigor and strategic understanding, and the typical salaries on offer reflect that.
• Proposal writers use persuasive writing and critical thinking to drive client engagement and add value to any business, earning $108,822 a year on average in the US.
• Senior editors who can combine people management with strong language skills and creative vision can build successful careers.
• Art directors need to balance team leadership, innovation and artistic flair; average salaries reflect the specificity of skills needed for these roles.

AI makes the humanities (and humans) more valuable. Not less.

The world doesn’t just need people who can use AI. It needs people who know when to trust it, when to question it and how to apply it responsibly; people who have a broad, culturally aware frame of reference with which to contextualize what they’re seeing and use it to build a better world. In a world driven by AI, your passion for the humanities can help you thrive, both personally and professionally.