There's no escaping AI these days — whether you’re scrolling social media or using it to knock out routine tasks at work. Some employers are now encouraging the use of AI, hoping to optimize productivity, even as workers worry about being replaced.
Recent research suggests entry-level economics and business jobs may be especially exposed to automation. That could leave college students wondering if their degree will be outdated by the time they hit the job market.
To help make sense of what’s changing, “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio spoke with Wendy Carlin, professor of economics at University College London and director of CORE Econ, which provides free open-access teaching materials on economics across the globe. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: Studying economics can pay off. We know this, but first you’ve got to get a job. When you get out of school, how deep, professor, how deep is your concern that artificial intelligence might be a cheaper alternative to hiring your econ majors?
Wendy Carlin: I am worried about this. The evidence that people are referring to relates, for example, to the drop in the hiring of juniors in firms that are adopting AI. And we've got to really think about, why did economics majors get a premium in the labor market, and how is that being undermined?
Brancaccio: Now, this is more than just abstract concern about the future. I think you were privy to information out of Hong Kong, where employers were needing less fresh econ majors?
Carlin: So, this was top of mind for the dean of the business school at Hong Kong University. They're very worried about the future of their econ and business majors, through their conversations with employers in the city. Another colleague in Hong Kong said that his contacts in consultancy and finance are now hiring philosophy and history majors rather than econ or business majors.
Brancaccio: I mean, if you have to change your approach to economics education to adapt to the presence of AI out in the real world, what are some ways to think about that?
Carlin: Anyone who's done an economics degree will remember that they spend a lot of time doing problem sets. These are very well specified or structured cognitive tasks. So we have to really rethink our classrooms and get those problem set sessions out of the way. They're going to learn how to do that much better individually working with AI as a tutor than they are in a classroom with 20 other people.
Brancaccio: And I mean, I think it even goes without saying that artificial intelligence can be a great tool. So, if you could come up with a crop of econ majors who are super pros at using AI to solve even more advanced problems, maybe they would stand a shot of finding work.
Carlin: Yes, I think that that's what we should be aiming for, and it's part of our job to help students, to get the AI to work for them, but not to take away the opportunities that they have to learn, the benefits of the hard work that has to be put in, which is going to make you useful. And also it's going to bring you fulfillment in a way that just getting the answer from the AI can't.
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