Wharton's Ethan Mollick says learning a trade won't dodge AI

On 2026-11-02 at 19:00, Business Insider · Tech published a podcast interview with Wharton management professor Ethan Mollick, written by the outlet's chief correspondent covering media and technology. In the conversation Mollick says that AI is far more capable than most people realize, and that people and their children need to figure out how to adapt. He does not think the usual advice works: picking an "AI-proof" career, perhaps something manual, is not a way out, and neither is simply learning to use AI.

The piece frames the discussion around two questions: how to make AI stop being a problem, and more precisely, how to make a living in an AI world. Mollick's answers point toward a different approach, one laid out in his new book Co-Existence. According to the interview, the book argues that the models are improving much faster than most people understand, that AI is not going away, and that the practical response is to learn to live with it. Mollick also suggests focusing energy on the personal traits that AI cannot replicate.

The article describes Mollick as one of the more influential guides on what AI can already do and what working alongside it means for people. In the material available so far, the story ends here, with the interview and the book's themes as the latest development; no further follow-up is reported.