/Tech21h ago

Judea Pearl argues AI labs make a mistake hiring philosophers, drawing pushback over computational philosophy contributions

Story Overview

Turing Award winner Judea Pearl publicly dismissed the recent trend of AI labs recruiting philosophers, arguing their strength lies in framing intriguing questions rather than resolving them without computational testing grounds like those available to computer scientists.

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Original post

Judea Pearl@yudapearl#325inTech

Why-big-ai-labs-are-hiring-so-many-philosophers? https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/06/24/why-big-ai-labs-are-hiring-so-many-philosophers?giftId=ZGZjZmQ2ZmYtMmM3OC00NjM3LTg2YzQtOGJkMWQ5ZDVkNGIy&utm_campaign=gifted_article If they do, it's a big mistake -- philosophers are great in posing problems that people finds intruiging, but not too great in solving any of them. Why? Because they didn't have a laboratory to test their ideas, namely a computer.

6:16 PM · Jul 2, 2026 · 23.4K Views

Open Question

Philosophers Already Blend Theory with Code

Counter-posts from researchers at DeepMind and Johns Hopkins highlight existing work at places like the MINT Lab, where philosophers collaborate on computational experiments around AI alignment and governance, showing some integration of testing methods already underway.

Industry Shift

Hiring Scale Remains Unclear

No concrete numbers on how many philosophers have joined labs or what roles they fill appear in the linked Economist piece or the X exchange, leaving the practical impact of this hiring wave open to interpretation.

Sentiment

Positive users defend AI labs hiring philosophers by noting their foundational role in the field and value for problem-posing, while negative users see it as ethics washing or a PR stunt.

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60.0%

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40.0%

12 comments with sentiment.

Cluster Engagement

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