--- title: Why math is a core human skill even as AI handles more of it description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7171552/why-math-is-a-core-human-skill-even-as-ai-handles-more-of-it/ author: Jacob Clemente article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-03T11:35:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-28T07:07:29.067Z article:section: Charter og:title: Why math is a core human skill even as AI handles more of it og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. 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Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc616bb9c1fd576b5/698a9bd116d884aa7ec45ac0/charter-bijal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- The information presented here is created by Charter, independently from the TIME editorial staff.  Time charter * [skills](/partner-content/charter/tag/skills/) ## skills # Why math is a core human skill even as AI handles more of it > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Jacob Clemente](https://time.com/author/jacob-clemente/) Senior Reporter, AI & Work Nov 3, 2024 11:35 AM UTC  Art: Charter  by [Jacob Clemente](https://time.com/author/jacob-clemente/) Senior Reporter, AI & Work Nov 3, 2024 11:35 AM UTC We often ask leaders what skills they see as critical for the future. That question is especially relevant for [Bijal Shah](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bijal7/), CEO of Guild, which helps companies provide education benefits to their workers. Shah lists a handful of soft skills she sees as critical for any job of the future, including problem solving, the ability to learn new skills, and the ability to connect with others and understand how to help them. (Shah says she was influenced by Harvard professor Joseph Fuller, who [has highlighted](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bijal7%5Fopportunitysummit2024-activity-7250187914108694528-HBMH?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop) that a growing share of jobs, both quantitative and non-quantitative, require strong social skills—a finding also supported by a [2017 research paper](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/132/4/1593/3861633) by Harvard economist David Deming.) Having quantitative skills on top of the social abilities unlocks new ways of thinking, Shah adds. We spoke with her about her plans to train Guild’s workers for the future and why she sees math as an important skill for everyone. Here are highlights from that conversation, edited for length and clarity: Sign up for Charter's newsletter to get the handbook for the future of work delivered to your inbox. Email Address You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our [Terms of Service](https://www.charterworks.com/terms-of-service/) and [Privacy Policy](https://www.charterworks.com/privacy-policy/). **How are you ensuring that employees at Guild are developing the skills you see as important for the future?** One way is that we offer Guild inside our company, and we make sure that the skills we know people will need—not only for their current job, but for the future—that we're offering that type of programming in our catalog. The second way is to learn by doing. I think it's so critical that you put applications of this to test and that we give people gig work or side work or stretch opportunities. Even if there isn't a new role to move into, how do we stretch you in ways that actually push the boundaries on the work you're doing? The one that I haven't quite figured out, and I'm excited to unlock not just for Guild but for our broader customer population, is on math. How do we help teach foundations of math and how do we help people get more comfortable with numbers and be excited about numbers? Not just like, ‘How do you add one plus one?’ How do you actually appreciate the fundamentals of math? Because it's critical to actually enabling you to do a lot of other things. **What does math enable you to do?** Math helps you create frameworks, and frameworks are applicable everywhere. It isn't the numbers themselves, it's the way of thinking that math ingrains in you. To break down a problem, to understand what the variables are, to be able to pull the pieces together to then say, ‘If these are my options, how do I think about which one is the best?’ It teaches you about optimization functions and what you should be maximizing for. There's just so many lessons that are broadly applicable to just leadership, influence, to helping the customer get to the right outcome. **I could see someone reading this and thinking, ‘Machines are getting better and better at quantitative tasks.’ There are** [**AI models**](https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/07/25/1095315/google-deepminds-ai-systems-can-now-solve-complex-math-problems/) **built to solve** [**complex math problems**](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/technology/ai-chatbots-chatgpt-math.html)**. Do you still see math as future-proof?** I definitely think of it as future-proof. Again, I don't think it's the numbers in and of themself, and I don't think it's the math equation in and of itself, or your ability to solve that specific equation. Math helps you think in frameworks, and frameworks are going to be more important as AI takes care of other parts of it. What's the right question to ask so that AI can actually give me the most optimal output? For myself, I look at the business and I'm like, how much should I invest in growth versus how much should I invest in efficiency? Those are trade-off decisions, and that’s an optimization function. It's not all or nothing. Those are the types of frameworks and problem-solving skills that math can teach you that people take for granted. **Some argue that liberal arts training is more important now in a world with AI. What do you make of that argument?** I think about the answer a little bit differently. Deep learning is even more important than we might have given it credit for in the past. Our society has become so focused on short-term gain, and there is something about taking the time to do something in a deeper capacity that teaches you resiliency. It teaches you how to problem solve. It teaches you how to keep your attention on something for longer than five minutes or five hours or five months. Focusing on liberal arts reinforces the notion of deep learning, and \[that’s\] why I think it matters. One of the beautiful things about a liberal arts degree is that you don't actually learn one thing. You have to take math, you have to take science, and you take English. English requires you to learn how to communicate better. With math, you learn how to problem solve. With science, you're learning how to create a hypothesis and test that hypothesis. It actually leads to a world where you're able to look at a situation more dynamically. As work evolves, I'm like, ‘Cool, I might need to index on a different range of what my skills are, but I have a plethora of them, and they're not surface-level skills. They're learned and deep.’ --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: Box CEO Aaron Levie on the AI Fluency Skills Leaders Need Right Now](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/box-ceo-aaron-levie-on-the-ai-fluency-skills-leaders-need-right-now/)  ### Box CEO Aaron Levie on the AI Fluency Skills Leaders Need Right Now [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/box-ceo-aaron-levie-on-the-ai-fluency-skills-leaders-need-right-now/) [Open article: The Most Important Skills for the Future](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7328444/the-most-important-skills-for-the-future/)  ### The Most Important Skills for the Future [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7328444/the-most-important-skills-for-the-future/) [Open article: Why Workers Should Focus on “Durable Skills” Over “Perishable Skills”](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6966659/why-workers-should-focus-on-durable-skills-over-perishable-skills/)  ### Why Workers Should Focus on “Durable Skills” Over “Perishable Skills” [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6966659/why-workers-should-focus-on-durable-skills-over-perishable-skills/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7171552/why-math-is-a-core-human-skill-even-as-ai-handles-more-of-it/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7171552/why-math-is-a-core-human-skill-even-as-ai-handles-more-of-it/"},"headline":"Why math is a core human skill even as AI handles more of it","datePublished":"2024-11-03T11:35:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T07:07:29.067Z","description":"A Q&A with Bilal Shah, CEO of learning and development benefits provider Guild.","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7171552/why-math-is-a-core-human-skill-even-as-ai-handles-more-of-it/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc616bb9c1fd576b5/698a9bd116d884aa7ec45ac0/charter-bijal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacob Clemente","jobTitle":"Senior Reporter, AI & Work","url":"https://time.com/author/jacob-clemente/"}],"articleSection":"Charter","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc616bb9c1fd576b5/698a9bd116d884aa7ec45ac0/charter-bijal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"charter-bijal","caption":"Illustration featuring headshot of Bilal Shah, a South Asian woman with long, straight, dark hair.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7171552/why-math-is-a-core-human-skill-even-as-ai-handles-more-of-it/","name":"Why math is a core human skill even as AI handles more of it"}}]}] ```