This article is the fourth in a series on why liberal arts degrees are so desperately needed in society today.
If you worry that liberal arts degrees are going the way of the Pony Express, the Watusi, phone booths and cigarette machines, think again. It appears they may be in more demand than ever. I’ll keep you in suspense and get to that soon. First, consider the following.
Online all the time
If you’re anything like me, you stare at a computer screen from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., only to swap your laptop for your handy-dandy cell phone after leaving work. Then you scroll aimlessly while waiting for your kids at basketball practice or in awkward moments with fellow human scrollers, bent intently over their devices, as your carryout order is prepared before you return home to, undoubtedly, even more scrolling.
We are all here but not really here, in some sort of screen-induced haze, watching TikTok videos of cute cats or random teens and their goofy parents enthusiastically pumping their arms to Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” dance. I know. I do the dance with my 13-year-old, and I’m pretty good at it. So no judgement here from this goof.
You’re undoubtedly aware that countless videos, ads, digital and print art, and, of course, other computing technology use AI. Some of it is helpful. Heck, I sometimes use it for writing prompts or to summarize information quickly when pressed for time.
Yet there are bigger issues.
In his Algorithmic Bridge blog post “10 Signs of AI Writing That 99% of People Miss,” Alberto Romero points out that AI can be identified not just because of the overuse of dashes. AI-generated text is identifiable by its “disembodied vocabulary” and the lack of “jagged” words.
Abstract words and phrases you cannot picture in your head are almost exclusively used. Descriptions involving sight, smell, taste and feel are basically non-existent, because AI is devoid of senses. As a result, AI writing is the antithesis of the Show, Don’t Tell technique countless professional writers use. Romero explains, “If the words [such as “comprehensive,” “foundational,” and “nuanced”] feel like they were chosen by a corporate HR department lying to avoid a lawsuit, you are likely reading AI.”
This is your brain on AI
AI acts as a modern Pied Piper, lulling us into feeling vaguely entertained while robbing us of the ability to think critically or recognize what is real. Bland language is now slipping into our vocabulary, and, as Romero points out in his Dec. 5th blog post, “soon, without really knowing why, you will find yourself talking about the smell of fury and the texture of embarrassment.”
This phenomenon is critical because something else is happening in the shadows.
About a month ago, the infamous Elon Musk declared that AI will eliminate most jobs within the next two decades. He added his children can choose to attend college for “social growth and broad learning.”
Why liberal arts degrees will be more needed than ever
I hope you’re still with me, for two reasons.
First, “broad learning” found almost exclusively in liberal arts institutions such as Westminster College is suddenly being held up as essential, while various degrees in technology are swiftly being eliminated by AI.
In her July 14, 2025, article in INC Magazine titled “The Rise of AI Will Make Liberal Arts Degrees Popular Again. Here’s Why,” Jessica Stillman points out that a variety of fields are negatively affected by rapid technological change. Individuals such as banking CEO Bill Winters of Standard Chartered recently declared his MBA “a waste of time” in the current corporate environment. His saving grace? His liberal arts degree.
Stillman quotes Winters as saying, “I learned how to think at university, and for the 40 years since I left university, those skills have been degraded, degraded, degraded. They’re coming back now.”
From Medium.com to U.S. News and World Report, more and more articles are suddenly celebrating the importance of liberal arts degrees. And it’s not just so the humanities survive for art’s sake. It’s about the bigger picture.
This brings me to my second point. If, in fact, most jobs are predicted to be eliminated within 20 years, then what? Will most of us be panhandling on streets lined with trillionaires who operate AI data centers? For businessperson and political commentator Andrew Yang, the future is even bleaker for the average person than Musk predicts. Yang is quoted in Business Insider as declaring that within just five years, 40 million jobs will be eliminated. He foresees people taking to the streets and rioting: unless successful AI companies pay each individual a set amount per month to prevent massive starvation.
Those properly educated at a liberal arts college know darned well this scenario sounds political, like some kind of dystopian, modern socialism conceived by George Orwell himself. So we’re skeptical. But at the same time, we should be prepared for rapid societal change. And that’s where those with liberal arts degrees will excel.
In Introduction to Philosophy at Westminster, we studied Renee Descarte’s “Cogito, ergo sum,” or “I think, therefore, I am.” With AI “thinking” for us today, this would be a good time to consider how Chat GPT describes the concept:
“‘I think, therefore I am’ is one of those lines that sticks because it gets to something simple and solid.”
As you can see, this sentence is its own argument against throwing in the towel and waiting for the free money so our days are spent scrolling through the latest dance crazes on TikTok.
Can AI think broadly across disciplines, reflect deeply on the human condition and empathize with others? Who will trouble-shoot when the technology we rely so frequently upon goes down?
Those with liberal arts degrees can do all of this and much more.
Those educated in the liberal arts can think broadly AND reflect deeply. And they matter now more than ever.
Sarah Rummel Backer is the Director of Media Relations and Senior Writer at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. A proud Westminster graduate, Sarah has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and strategic communications in the areas of higher education, medicine, agriculture, and the private business sector.
