Wharton School with downtown Philadelphia in the background.
Starting this fall, students at University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School will be able to declare an MBA major in Artificial Intelligence for Business. That, along with the creation of a new undergraduate concentration in AI, is Wharton’s first major curriculum update around AI to date.
The new offerings are designed to meet the growing global demand for graduates who not only understand the technical foundations of AI but can also apply those skills to solve business challenges. Students will also learn to navigate AI’s ethical, legal, and societal implications.
“It is no longer a question of if, but how artificial intelligence will fundamentally alter every aspect of business and society, and business schools have a crucial role to play in ensuring that AI adoption leads to positive outcomes,” says Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School, in an announcement. “At Wharton, we are simultaneously focused on harnessing AI’s transformative potential while also understanding and addressing its risks.”
Wharton Dean Erika James
WHARTON’S ALL-IN AI APPROACH
This week’s announcement is the latest in Wharton’s all-in approach to AI. In June, the B-school launched its AI & Analytics Initiative aimed at enhancing the school’s research and teaching capabilities in artificial intelligence and data science.
As part of the initiative, Wharton established two new funds: the AI Research Fund to support faculty exploring AI’s intersection with modern business models and global economies. The Education Innovation Fund supports integrating AI into classroom instruction. Last fall, all full-time and executive MBA students received ChatGPT Enterprise licenses, marking the first such collaboration between a business school and OpenAI.
The new MBA major is one of 21 available to Wharton candidates, and is STEM certified. All Wharton undergrads graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, but students can choose from 19 concentrations to further specialize their degree. (Wharton recently topped our 2025 ranking of the Best Undergraduate Business Programs in the U.S.)
The Artificial Intelligence for Business major and concentration will be jointly administered by Wharton’s Statistics and Data Science Department as well as its Operations, Information and Decisions. Department. Students will take courses in applied machine learning, data science, neuroscience, data engineering, and statistics. A required ethics course, “Big Data, Big Responsibilities: Toward Accountable Artificial Intelligence,” will anchor the curriculum.
The ethics course is led by Professor Kevin Werbach, who also directs Wharton’s newly launched Accountable AI Lab. The lab is dedicated to advancing responsible AI development and governance.
‘A CRITICAL TURNING POINT’
“We are at a critical turning point where practical AI knowledge is urgently needed,” says Eric Bradlow, Vice Dean of AI & Analytics at Wharton.
“Companies are struggling to recruit talent with the necessary AI skills, students are eager to deepen their understanding of the subject and gain hands-on experience and our faculty’s expertise on the adoption and human impact of AI is unmatched.”
Professors Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe of the OID department and Giles Hooker of the Statistics and Data Science department will serve as faculty advisors for the new program.
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