To provide a contrasting view, I surveyed the background of Anthropic’s technical staff a while ago.
12 out of 24 had PhDs.
Of those 12, 9 were in physics, two were in philosophy, and one was in biology.
Of the 12 without PhDs, the plurality were CS graduates, with the rest being a mix of physics, maths, engineering and biology.
Also one GED.
In particular, we had no ML PhDs as of when the survey was done (though we’ve hired two since!). I think Anthropic is an unusual organisation and our demographics won’t generalise well to the broader community, but I do think it’s representative of the ongoing shift to more empirical work.
To provide a contrasting view, I surveyed the background of Anthropic’s technical staff a while ago.
12 out of 24 had PhDs.
Of those 12, 9 were in physics, two were in philosophy, and one was in biology.
Of the 12 without PhDs, the plurality were CS graduates, with the rest being a mix of physics, maths, engineering and biology.
Also one GED.
In particular, we had no ML PhDs as of when the survey was done (though we’ve hired two since!). I think Anthropic is an unusual organisation and our demographics won’t generalise well to the broader community, but I do think it’s representative of the ongoing shift to more empirical work.
9 + 2 + 2 ≠ 12? Did someone have some kind of double PhD?
nah i just accidentally a word. fixed!