The latest episode of the WTF podcast, involving the Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, has been in the headlines ever since it aired. Amodei has been trending for his cautious take on the future of AI, with Kamath asking a critical question about the technology’s future – will AI tools eventually make people more stupid in the future? Amodei, as expected, came up with honest and rather worrisome answers.
Midway through the wide-ranging interview on Nikhil Kamath’s ‘People by WTF’ podcast, the Zerodha co-founder directly asked Amodei, “Do you think humans will become stupider as a race in the next decade? Coz… if in a way we are exporting thinking and cognition to systems.”
Amodei, who is in charge of the company behind the sought-after Claude AI model, did not shy away from the possibility, stating, “Yeah… I think if we deploy AI in the wrong way, if we deploy it carelessly, then, yes, people could become stupider,” he replied.
However, Amodei quickly balanced his warning with optimism about human agency. “Even if an AI is always gonna be better than you at something, you can still learn that thing, right? You can still enrich yourself intellectually,” Amodei added. He framed the outcome as a deliberate choice, one that individuals, companies, and society as a whole must actively make to ensure AI augments human capabilities.
Amodei warned of the AI “tsunami” society is ignoring
The discussion, described by Kamath as diving into “the heavy stuff,” covered Anthropic’s decision to withhold an early working model before ChatGPT’s launch, the prospect of AI approaching consciousness, and the concentration of power in a few AI organisations as a “massive problem”, even as Amodei himself holds significant influence in the space.
Amodei compared the arrival of powerful AI to a “tsunami society is actively ignoring,” warning that rapid automation, particularly of coding, which he called a “dying skill”, could reshape work profoundly. He argued that critical thinking remains humanity’s “last real edge” and urged focus on human-centric domains, tasks built atop AI, or areas like semiconductors for young people pursuing startups or higher studies.
AI’s effects on skills, jobs
Amodei also stated that coding is likely the first skill to become largely obsolete. He stated that AI already handles much of it effectively, and broader software engineering roles will follow the same path, with the transition taking longer. In contrast, human-centered tasks that rely on empathy, relating to people, design intuition, product sense, deep user understanding, and the ability to manage and direct AI systems, are expected to remain valuable and grow in importance over time.
Amodei highlighted that critical thinking stands as humanity’s “last real edge” in an AI-dominated world. This includes the uniquely human capacity to evaluate information, distinguish truth from misinformation, and make nuanced judgments amid overwhelming data and generated content. Amodei said that these are skills that AI can assist but not fully replace.