These College Professors Will Not Bow Down to A.I.

… Where does this leave college students? Gen Z is not giving up on the arts or the pleasures of reading and thinking for themselves. As A.I. creates chaos and uncertainty in the market for entry-level jobs, more students may react by following their passion for the humanities; why begrudgingly major in tech or business if it doesn't even lead to employment? There's some evidence that humanities departments are rebounding after a long period of decline. U.C. Berkeley, which is considered one of the best public universities in the country, has seen a nearly 50 percent increase in majors in their arts and humanities division over the past four years.

Ketabgian told me a story that shows just how powerful keeping the humans in humanities can be. She described a student who was really anxious about leading a discussion of Le Guin's novel at a library, because public speaking was stressful for her. Ketabgian coached her through her fears, and she ended up having such a great time leading the talk, she joined the library's reading group to make new friends.

This is everything humanities should be: engaging the community, talking about ideas, making intellectual bonds. We don't need to surrender that to bots.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/opinion/humanities-college-ai.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare