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Reed Hastings argues that the world has overvalued scientific and technical education. In an era when AI takes over routine work, those who know how to ask the right questions and create meaning win. This changes the labor market and opens unexpected niches for entrepreneurs.
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What happened
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings said at the Entrepreneur conference that the world has “overdone it” with its emphasis on STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In his view, in the era of artificial intelligence, the humanities and creative professions will receive new momentum. AI handles routine calculations and technical tasks very well, but setting goals, interpreting meaning, and creating products that resonate with people require skills that a machine cannot reproduce.
Why this is useful for business
Hastings is signaling a fundamental shift in the market. Companies that are currently hiring only engineers and analysts risk missing the main thing: the ability to understand the customer, shape the brand narrative, and create an emotional connection with the audience. A product can be technically perfect, but without human context, it does not sell. Humanities expertise is becoming a competitive advantage: the ability to ask the right questions, work with cultural codes, and build communication turns out to be more critical than the ability to write code.
How to make money from this
The logic is simple: if demand for humanities competencies is growing while supply still lags, a window of opportunity emerges. You can create educational products for adults who want to fill gaps in communication, storytelling, and critical thinking skills. You can bring services to market where humanities expertise is packaged in a format that business understands. You can invest in projects that connect creative industries with technology platforms. The main thing is not to oppose the humanities and the technical, but to look for hybrid models.
Business ideas
1. Online school of critical thinking for entrepreneurs. Courses on argumentation, recognizing logical fallacies, and decision-making under uncertainty. Subscription $29–$99 per month, corporate packages from $500 per team.
2. Narrative consulting agency. Help startups formulate their mission, positioning, and communications strategy. Pricing from $3,000 per project, retainer model from $5,000 per month.
3. Platform for humanities hackathons and creative sprints. Organize events where specialists in philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies solve business problems. Revenue from registration fees of $150–$400 per participant and sponsorships from $10,000.
4. An AI philosophy service for product teams. A tool that helps teams conduct ethical reviews of product decisions and assess consequences for users and society. Subscription $49–$199 per month per team.
5. A publishing house for hybrid educational materials. Books, courses, and podcasts at the intersection of technology and the humanities — for example, “AI and Ethics,” “Psychology of User Experience,” “Philosophy of Design.” Digital products from $19, physical editions from $35, corporate licenses from $2,000.
Risks and limitations
The main risk is that the humanities services market is traditionally fragmented and difficult to scale. Clients often do not understand what they are paying for and expect measurable results where they are hard to demonstrate. Competition from AI tools is also real: humanities specialists will indeed be able to perform some routine analytical tasks faster. In addition, the trend may prove short-lived — large corporations are still actively hiring technical specialists, and there will be no radical shift in the labor market in the next year or two.
7-day action plan
Day 1–2. Study specialized platforms — Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare — and see which humanities courses sell best. Identify a niche with low competition and high demand.
Day 3. Conduct 5 interviews with representatives of the target audience — find out what problems they solve and what they are willing to pay for. Record insights.
Day 4. Prepare a prototype of a commercial offer or a mini-course of 3–5 lessons. Record one trial video lesson.
Day 5. Create a landing page with a product description and a pre-registration form. Connect analytics.
Day 6. Launch targeted advertising with a $200–$500 budget to test demand. Collect the first applications.
Day 7. Analyze the results: if conversion is above 3% — scale; if below — adjust the offer and repeat the cycle.
Original news: Entrepreneur · See other news in the news section.
