AI startup Anthropic is betting on a human editorial team

Amid a wave of AI-fueled media layoffs, Anthropic—the kind of company driving the disruption—is making a human hire. The AI startup is seeking a managing editor to lead its growing editorial team, leaning on skills that machines still can’t match.

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Based in New York or San Francisco, the role will be the “organizational backbone” of the operation, steering collaboration, systems, and the people who keep it all running.

A human position in the age of AI

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in the workforce has resulted in the loss of jobs and much uncertainty across industries. Concerns have even been raised by Anthropic’s own CEO, Dario Amodei, who claims unemployment could reach 10% to 20% in the next one to five years due to eliminated jobs.

In the media industry alone, the effects have been particularly extensive. Earlier this year, Business Insider laid off 21% of its staff to favor the use of AI and live events. Amid staff cuts, many outlets are resorting to AI-generated content, albeit some do so inadvertently.

Human skills are in

While AI is here to stay, human-based skills are becoming more coveted than before.

The new job listing follows Anthropic’s communications team expansion, which set out to triple its team size by the end of the year, per Axios.

According to the listing, the editorial team oversees research communications and narrative content that focuses on AI and its societal impacts. This human-driven strategy follows Anthropic’s failed attempt at an AI-generated blog, which tasked its chatbot Claude to write blog posts. The company shut it down a week after its launch.

According to the job description, the main responsibilities will be maintaining the editorial calendar, coordinating workflows, and providing edits, which oftentimes can be delegated to AI. However, most skills required point to human skills, including serving as a cross-team liaison, managing relationships, and enforcing deadlines.

Human skills, revalued

This year, LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise list ranked AI literacy as the No. 1 skill employers are looking for, yet all the skills that followed— like conflict mitigation, adaptability, and innovative thinking—focused on soft skills.

Other reports are noticing the same trend, with Autodesk’s 2025 AI Job Report pointing to similar findings and noting “human skills aren’t being replaced—they’re being revalued.”

Story Continues

Sentiments regarding the growing appreciation for human skills echoed on social media. “Not surprised,” one person commented in reaction to the listing on LinkedIn. “AI is better every day, but humans are still needed to keep garbage from going in and out.”

“Editorial expertise is still a high-value craft. The unique combo of critical thinking, context awareness, audience empathy, storytelling judgment, fact-checking rigor, digital savvy, and creativity remains essential,” Deloitte Insights executive editor Annalyn Kurtz said in a LinkedIn post. “Even leading AI companies are recognizing that.”

This post originally appeared at fastcompany.com
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