AI is reshaping tech careers. But it will not kill off the value of a STEM degree, according to Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis.
He made the comments at a London business conference, in a video published on Wednesday. Knowing the fundamentals of software gives you an edge with AI, he told the audience, Business Insider reported.
“You absolutely needed to lean into STEM and computer science,” Hassabis said. He framed AI as the next programming language, after machine code, C and Python. The future, he suggested, may be plain English.
Fundamentals still matter
Even so, the basics do not go away. “You’re still going to need to know about architecting things and best software engineering practices,” he said.
“Those people who understand the deep technical, they’ll be able to use these tools 10 times more effectively than people who don’t have that technical knowledge,” Hassabis added.
He also made a case for the humanities. “The time is now for the humanities like philosophy, economics,” he said. “I think we really need them in the world we’re about to enter.”
A wider pushback on vibe coding
Hassabis is one of several tech leaders pushing back on the idea that vibe coding makes coding degrees pointless.
Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, made a similar case to Business Insider in December. A mid-level programming job “is not going to be a career for much longer, because AI can do that,” he said. But he argued a computer science degree is worth far more than coding. It will stay useful “for quite a long time,” he said.
Affirm chief Max Levchin has said much the same. Computer science fundamentals separate good code from “garbage,” he argued on a podcast. Microsoft’s Brad Smith and others have offered similar reassurance to anxious graduates.
