Major AI companies are hiring philosophers to shape how their systems behave, as the share of philosophy jobs related to AI rises to 16 percent.

In 2013, 1 percent of roles on PhilJobs (the field's primary job board) were related to AI technology. Last year, that figure hit 16 percent. Universities are also pouring resources into hiring philosophers who study AI, and new academic programs are launching—Arizona State University hopes to launch an AI-and-philosophy major in 2027, while the University at Buffalo is debuting a doctorate in 'applied ontology' this fall.

Anthropic published an 84-page document called Claude's constitution that outlines the company's intentions for the bot's personality and behavior, including dense philosophical sections on meta-ethics and epistemology, which is then used to train Claude. OpenAI has also consulted 'hundreds of moral philosophers' and tech-ethics experts when designing rules for ChatGPT's behavior. Google DeepMind reportedly employs at least 10 philosophers and is studying questions including machine consciousness and political theory.

Some philosophers and academics worry the AI boom has had a 'real distorting effect on the discipline,' with job-market pressures encouraging people to work on AI-related topics they might not otherwise pursue. Philosophers also note that the careful, slow thinking philosophy encourages is at odds with the frenetic pace of AI development, which risks spurring low-quality work.