Wharton Launches AI Concentration
Credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will offer AI as an MBA major and undergraduate concentration starting in the fall.
- The curriculum will feature a mix of technical education and an emphasis on ethics.
- The new MBA major and undergrad concentration add to Wharton’s AI focus, with the school announcing major investments in AI last year.
- Wharton joins a growing number of business schools with AI concentrations for students.
Students at one of the world’s top business schools will have access to a new artificial intelligence (AI) major and concentration.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will offer AI as a master’s of business administration (MBA) major or undergraduate concentration starting in fall 2025, Wharton Dean Erika H. James announced in a LinkedIn video.
“Wharton has always met the moment. And this is another example of us identifying how we should be preparing our students to go out into the world leveraging this new AI technology for business decision-making,” James said in the video.
The MBA AI major and concentration build on Wharton’s existing investments in AI: The school ramped up its investments in AI last year in launching its AI and Analytics Initiative. This initiative includes funding for faculty research and student learning.
Eric Bradlow, vice dean for AI and Analytics at Wharton, noted that AI research is nothing new for the major business school.
“For the last 20-plus years, we’ve been innovating in AI and data science,” Bradlow said in the video.
Bradlow said the AI major will feature both technical training and an emphasis on “the societal, ethical, and responsible implications” of using AI.
The curriculum will feature courses in tech-heavy areas like applied machine learning, neuroscience, data engineering, and ethics, according to a press release from the school.
“At Wharton, we are simultaneously focused on harnessing AI’s transformative potential while also understanding and addressing its risks,” James said in the press release. “Artificial Intelligence for Business represents a bold step forward in our mission to prepare the next generation to responsibly lead in an AI-driven world.”
Wharton has also moved to make its AI training accessible to teachers via a partnership with OpenAI.
A number of business schools have debuted AI concentrations for their MBA programs in recent months as part of a growing trend in business education. Others have moved to infuse AI throughout their curriculum or partnered with tech companies to provide AI tools to students.
AI has become widespread in business education over the past year. A 2024 Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) report found that the vast majority of business schools now offer some form of AI instruction to students.
In fact, only 22% of the business schools surveyed by GMAC said they hadn’t integrated AI into student learning.