Wharton Professor Says Learning to Live with AI is the Only Way

As AI spreads, common advice is to "learn to use AI" or switch to jobs that are hard to replace. Wharton management professor Ethan Mollick argues in his new book Co-Existence that this advice falls short. AI models are improving faster than most people realize, and the only way forward is learning to live with AI. In an interview, he said robots and language models may soon be connected, and programming is changing the fastest. Coders are shifting from writing error-free code to figuring out what to build. He listed four traits that build an edge: deep expertise, broad knowledge, taste, and initiative. Prompt writing is becoming more like project management, where defining needs and standards clearly matters most. He worries the old apprenticeship path has broken down: newcomers hand tasks straight to AI without judgment, and companies skip training. If firms only hire experienced workers, the talent pipeline may collapse.