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News

News: August/September 2026

Jobs bonanza as AI companies recruit philosophers • Researchers learn to ‘unwrap’ charred philosophy scrolls from Herculaneum — News reports by Anja Steinbauer

AI needs Philosophers

Philosophy is emerging as an unlikely beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, with growing demand for graduates and academics as technology companies seek expertise in ethics, reasoning and AI safety. A decade ago, humanities students were often encouraged to learn programming to improve their job prospects. Today, the picture is shifting. Recent figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York show that, in 2024, philosophy graduates in the United States had a lower unemployment rate (5.1%) than computer science graduates (7%), reflecting strong demand for their skills. Universities are also seeing philosophy academics recruited by AI companies. Luciano Floridi, professor of philosophy at Yale University, has described the movement of staff from philosophy departments into the technology sector as a “haemorrhaging”. The attraction lies in philosophy’s contribution to the development of AI systems. AI researchers are drawing on ideas ranging from Socratic questioning to the value theories of Immanuel Kant and John Locke to improve how AI models reason, challenge assumptions and make decisions. Philosophical approaches are also increasingly being used to reduce AI ‘hallucinations’, improve transparency and build safeguards against harmful behaviour. Major AI companies, including Anthropic, Google DeepMind, IBM and OpenAI, now employ philosophers or incorporate philosophical principles into the design of their models. These range from ‘constitutional AI’ frameworks, which embed moral rules into systems, to debates over whether AI should follow fixed principles or weigh up the consequences of its actions in different situations.

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in healthcare, transport, law and defence, questions about fairness, responsibility and accountability are becoming central to its development. For philosophers, the rapid growth of AI is creating new career opportunities, demonstrating the continuing importance of critical thinking and moral reasoning in an increasingly automated world.

AI Reveals Lost Philosophy

Part of papyrus scroll PHerc1667, an ancient philosophical text digitally ‘unwrapped’ by the Vesuvius Challenge. The top of each column has been lost due to burning of the scroll.
© Vesuvius Challenge under CC BY NC 4.0

Artificial intelligence and advanced X-ray imaging have enabled researchers to read complete ancient scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, revealing previously inaccessible works of ancient philosophy without physically opening the fragile manuscripts. The breakthrough forms part of the Vesuvius Challenge, an international project launched in 2023 to develop AI tools capable of digitally ‘unwrapping’ hundreds of carbonised papyrus scrolls unearthed from the Villa of the Papyri in the Roman town of Herculaneum, which was destroyed alongside Pompeii in the eruption of AD 79. Among the newly deciphered texts are around 70 columns from On Vices, Book 1, and passages from On Gods, Book 8, by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus. Researchers have also recovered nearly 1.5 metres of text from another scroll dating to between 200 and 300BCE – the oldest Herculaneum manuscript to be read so far – containing reflections on ethics, art and human nature. This is the first time complete unopened scrolls have ever been read non-invasively. Previous attempts to physically unroll the manuscripts often caused irreparable damage because the papyri had been carbonised by the volcanic eruption. Project co-founder Brent Seales, professor of computer science at the University of Kentucky, described the advance as a turning point, saying researchers now believe it will be possible to read every scroll in the Herculaneum collection. The challenge has accelerated progress by making its imaging data, software and AI models openly available, supported by a US$1 million prize for the first team to read an entire scroll. Lead papyrologist Federica Nicolardi said virtual unwrapping has transformed the field by allowing scholars to preserve and study the manuscripts simultaneously. With hundreds of unopened scrolls still awaiting analysis, researchers believe the technology could dramatically expand knowledge of ancient philosophy, literature and intellectual life.

Extraterrestrial Consciousness?

What if while exploring space we find alien entities displaying complex responses to their environment? A new study in Philosophers’ Imprint argues that it would be reasonable to attribute conscious experience to such entities even if they are built from radically different physical materials than us. The paper by Prof. Eric Schwitzgebel of the University of California, Riverside, and Dr Jeremy Pober of the University of Lisbon challenges the assumption that consciousness depends on the carbon-based biology found on Earth, arguing that consciousness is ‘substrate flexible’, capable of emerging in a wide variety of physical forms, provided they support sufficient complexity. The researchers argue that it is improbable that all intelligent life would share the same chemistry as organisms on Earth, and suggest that alien life could be based on alternative chemical systems, such as silicon or sulphur compounds, while still giving rise to conscious experience. Employing what they call the ‘Copernican Principle of Consciousness’ they claim that just as we now understand that it’s unreasonable to assume Earth occupies a uniquely privileged position in the cosmos, so it would similarly be unreasonable to assume that of all the entities in the universe that display complex behaviour, only humans are lucky enough to have conscious experiences. Restricting consciousness to organisms with human-like biochemistry, they contend, amounts to an unjustified form of ‘terrocentrism’. The paper draws a distinction between the appropriate response to alien entities with complex behaviour and the appropriate response to apparently conscious robots. The authors say that if we know a robot has been designed and manufactured with the express intention of mimicking consciousness, then it is more reasonable to hold back from regarding it as truly conscious, than in the case of an alien entity that has developed complexity without any intention to mimic.

University Philosophy Crisis in UK

There is renewed concern about the future of philosophy in UK universities after two of them announced plans to close down or phase out the subject. The University of Dundee has proposed ending Philosophy as a named degree from 2027 as part of a wider cost-cutting strategy aimed at addressing a major financial deficit. The university has already reduced its workforce through voluntary redundancies and is now seeking further savings, with additional job cuts and the suspension of programmes in philosophy, mathematics and languages under consideration. The proposal has prompted a petition from students, staff and supporters, who argue that Dundee’s philosophy department plays a unique role in Scotland. It is home to the internationally recognised Scottish Centre for Continental Philosophy and is the only philosophy programme in Scotland to specialise in European, rather than predominantly Anglo-American, philosophy. Supporters also point to the department’s strong teaching reputation, high student satisfaction and extensive outreach work with local schools. Meanwhile, as reported in Issue 174, University of Hertfordshire is completely closing its highly successful undergraduate philosophy programme.