I'm Okay With AI Taking This One Specific Job, Actually

Chat GPT can beep boop its little robotic heart out on this one.

Photo by Stuart William Macgladrie/Fairfax Media via Getty Images

As frequent readers of Discourse Blog may know, I have not been particularly impressed by the recent glut of AI chat programs that are constantly pitched as the next big thing in our slow swirl down the dystopian toilet bowl. This isn’t because I’m some sort of neo-Luddite, or all that worried about the “robots are coming to take your jobs” drumbeat that seems to grow louder with each new wave of bot-centric media hype. I just think that they all kind of stink. There’s an initial novelty, sure, but after a little while they prove themselves to be about as useful — and entertaining — as a plunger without a handle.

Or so I thought until this week, when I found a single instance in which I am 100% okay with AI chatbots taking over for human beings. I haven’t come to this conclusion lightly. I’ve examined the issue from multiple angles, weighed the pros and cons, considered the implications of what I’m advocating for, and ultimately my mind is made up: I think it’s perfectly fine for chatbots to replace graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s vaunted Wharton Business School MBA program.

Here are the facts, as I see them.