AI Skills More Valuable Than MBAs, 86% of Finance Executives Say

Executives are questioning the value of an MBA in the AI-era.

Some 86% of the more than 1,000 U.S. financial services executives surveyed by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP say they think AI training is more valuable than an MBA for many new hires, reflecting the urgency companies face in adopting the technology effectively.

The survey, released Monday, showed companies are willing to pay accordingly: 91% of executives said they’re increasing compensation for employees with AI skills.

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“There is a clear need for people that understand not just what an agent is, but how do you build them? How do you think about managing them?” said Peter Pollini, who leads PwC’s financial services industry practice. He added that many firms are looking for workers with technical skills to help them implement the AI use cases they’ve identified.

Whether an MBA is worth the investment has long been the subject of debate, particularly as the typical total cost of the degree nears $300,000. As tuitions rise, prospective students are increasingly scrutinizing what they’ll get in return.

Universities, meanwhile, have spotted an opportunity. Prestigious business schools at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are offering a growing list of AI-themed executive education courses that are shorter and cheaper than a degree program and offer certificates. At MIT, for example,students can take a five-day course called “Leading the AI-Driven Organization” for about $13,000.

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Growing demand for AI-savvy workers has led some companies, including software makers International Business Machines Corp., Shopify Inc. and Cloudflare Inc., to ramp up entry-level hiring, betting that recent Gen Z graduates will be able to do more with AI tools than existing employees.

Top photo: An advertisement for AI for finance on a Wall Street newsstand near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Bloomberg.