Elon Musk AI job does not require A-levels, is this a new trend?

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla has advertised for a job at his company regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) where he states A-levels are not required to apply for the job.

Mr Musk does not care if applicants have a degree or A-levels, what he is focused on is the candidate’s ability to code.

There is more of an emphasis on what candidates know, instead of how you learned it. The job also entails possibly working alongside Mr Tusk.

Mr Tusk tweeted:

Join AI at Tesla! It reports directly to me & we meet/email/text almost every day. My actions, not just words, show how critically I view (benign) AI.

A PhD. is definitely not required. All that matters is a deep understanding of AI and the ability to implement (neural networks) in a way that is actually useful (latter point is what’s truly hard). Don’t care if you even graduated high school.

This is not the first time this year a well known institution has shown a desire for a different type of candidate instead of university educated ones. In January 2020 Dominic Cummings, chief special adviser to Boris Johnson said he desires “weirdos and misfits” to work in the civil service and the Government whilst “the horrors of HR need a bonfire”.

Mr Cummings said:

We need to figure out how to use such people (weirdos) better without asking them to conform to the horrors of ‘Human Resources’ (which also obviously need a bonfire).

Mr Cummings went on to explain that people in Government call out for “diversity” but that does not often mean “true cognitive diversity”. He said this usually refers to gender diversity but what he wants for Whitehall is “genuine cognitive diversity”.

He did admit though that he does not truly know what sort of person he is looking for but the Government needs these sorts of people.

Mr Cummings said:

By definition I don’t really know what I’m looking for but I want people around No 10 to be on the lookout for such people.

 

 

 

 

Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.