“When we graduate, what can we do?” As a philosophy professor, questions like this – about employability – often crop up in my conversations with students. Indeed, with youth unemployment on the Chinese mainland standing at almost 17 per cent, and intense competition among those seeking employment, it is no wonder that the priority for many – even students graduating from elite universities – is actually securing a job.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has only compounded such concerns – not only in China. A Stanford paper published last year found a 16 per cent relative decline in entry-level employment among AI-exposed occupations in the United States since 2022, while employment in experienced roles has remained stable.

Such changes have understandably precipitated public angst. During a recent commencement speech at the University of Arizona, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was met with boos as he praised AI’s transformative impact. And a Chinese court recently ruled that it is illegal for firms to lay off employees on the grounds that an AI replacement would be cheaper, although enforcement is another question.

In the hypercompetitive job market, with AI misinformation and the technology’s incorporation into multiple areas – from military decisions to financial analysis – it is tempting to conclude that educators must prioritise science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and machine learning to equip students with the necessary knowledge and literacy for their future.

Yet a singular fixation on STEM is wrong. In an era of accelerated technological progress and adoption, the lines dividing what humans and AI can do are increasingly blurred. To thrive, we must go back to the basics of what makes us unique as humans, as opposed to machines that perform tasks.

This is where the humanities come in – from classics and history to languages and literature, from sociology and anthropology to philosophy.