Good morning. Artificial intelligence is set to transform finance. Companies are increasingly seeking to hire CFOs with AI competency. Meanwhile, there’s competition for AI talent. Erika James, dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks there should be a pipeline of future business leaders who understand how to leverage this technology.
James announced in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday that an undergraduate concentration and an MBA major in Artificial Intelligence for Business will be offered in the next academic year.
“It is no longer a question of if, but how artificial intelligence will fundamentally alter every aspect of business and society,” James said in a statement. Business schools play a “crucial role” in making sure that AI adoption will "lead to positive outcomes," she said.
The curriculum will include courses on applied machine learning, data science, neuroscience, data engineering, and statistics, according to Wharton. There will also be a required ethics course led by Kevin Werbach, director of the Accountable AI Lab. The statistics and data science department, along with the operations, information, and decisions department will jointly administer the program.
“Companies are struggling to recruit talent with the necessary AI skills,” Eric Bradlow, vice dean of AI and Analytics at Wharton said in a statement. Students also want to gain hands-on experience, he said. “Wharton is uniquely positioned to lead as we collectively confront the myriad of challenges and opportunities AI poses.”
Wharton is one of the top schools producing the CFOs of Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies, according to Crist Kolder Associates’ Volatility Report. An analysis of 671 companies finds that more sitting CFOs hold an MBA (50%) than a CPA (37%).
Meanwhile, AI is set to reshape the role of both CFOs and the finance organization as a whole. During a recent McKinsey podcast, tech veteran and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar was asked what the finance function will look like in five years.
“I really hope we will move completely to the point of being the home for business insights, driving the business to go bigger and faster,” Friar said. “I want to be able to look at my team and see that everyone is in that mode of forward-thinking and insight-driven work and that a lot of the work we do today becomes rote work that gen AI does for us.”
The incorporation of technology in finance could be a pivotal part of attracting talent. Tech-savvy young professionals use AI in their daily lives, so they’ll want to do the same in the workplace.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
