Announcing New Senior Fellows

Wharton AI & Analytics Announcement graphic with blue and purple gradient background and the University of Pennsylvania logo.

The Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative (WAIAI) is proud to recognize a distinguished group of Senior Fellows recently appointed to our community, working across WAIAI and the Wharton Accountable AI Lab (WAAL). These leaders bring diverse expertise spanning academia, industry, and public service, providing guidance, collaborating on research, and mentoring students as they strengthen the connection between theory and practice.Read More

How Wharton Is Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Financial Future

A large group of people posing for a photo in a lecture hall, with notebooks and laptops on the curved desks in front of them.

In his course, AI and Data Science in Finance, Associate Professor Winston Dou connects cutting-edge research with real-world financial challenges, from autonomous trading to market prediction. Learn how students are building the skills to navigate an AI-driven financial future and how those ideas are helping shape the vision for the Wharton AI in Finance Lab.Read More

Learning by Building: Inside Wharton’s Generative AI Studio

A small group of people seated around a conference table, engaged in a discussion, with laptops and notebooks on the table.

The Wharton Generative AI Labs (GAIL) aims to explore how generative AI is reshaping the way we build, design, and think in the age of AI. Its flagship student program, the Generative AI Studio, offers a different kind of academic experience: one that replaces lectures and exams with prototyping, critique, and weekly iteration.“It’s a creative space,” says first-year MBA student Hetvee Marviya. “Just like I dance, this is something that’s creative, but using AI.”Read More

Lessons from the Responsible AI & Analytics for Insurance Workshop

Joao Gomes, senior vice dean of research, centers, and academic initiatives, kicks off the workshop.

On June 9, 2026, the Wharton School and UNSW Business School hosted the Responsible AI & Analytics for Insurance Workshop at Jon M. Huntsman Hall. The workshop brought together leaders from academia, industry, and regulation to explore how AI is reshaping the future of insurance — examining critical issues from fairness and transparency in pricing models to the growing challenges of climate risk and affordability.Read More

EU AI Act Update: The Digital Omnibus and the Realities of AI Governance

A digital illustration of justice scales surrounded by icons representing law, AI, human rights, and data protection, set against an EU flag background.

The European Union’s AI Act was originally framed as the world’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) through the lens of fundamental rights, human oversight, and trustworthy AI. Increasingly, however, the law is evolving into something else: a form of industrial policy. Increasingly, however, the law is being forced to confront the institutional and economic realities involved in translating those principles into practice. That shift became clear earlier this month, when EU lawmakers reached a provisional political agreement to delay several major compliance deadlines for high-risk AI systems as part of the Digital Omnibus initiative.Read More

The Colorado AI Act, xAI, and the DOJ: What Business Leaders Need to Know

A large, modern government building with columns and glass windows, housing the Colorado Supreme Court. Flags are displayed outside.

In April, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in a high-profile legal challenge to Colorado’s landmark AI law by Elon Musk through his frontier AI firm, xAI. The case is now shaping up to be an early test of whether states will retain meaningful authority to regulate advanced AI systems—or whether federal officials and courts will increasingly view such efforts as unconstitutional barriers to innovation, interstate commerce, and U.S. technological competitiveness.Read More

Why Better AI Tutors Aren’t About Better Answers

Headshots of two individuals against a blue gradient background with circular patterns.

Executives investing in AI-powered learning often focus on improving the chatbot: better explanations, more accurate answers, smarter prompts. But new research from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School suggests that’s not where the biggest gains come from.

The real opportunity isn’t in how AI responds, it’s in how AI guides.

Learn the latest from researchers Angel Tsai-Hsuan Chung, doctoral candidate in Wharton’s Operations, Information and Decisions (OID) department, Botong Zhang, software engineer with Amazon Web Services, Ling-Chieh Kung, associate professor with National Taiwan University’s College of Management, and Hamsa Bastani and Osbert Bastani, associate professors in OID.Read More

Why Adding a Human Doesn’t Automatically Make AI Better

Headshots of three people against a blue background with circular patterns.

The assumption that humans plus AI will always outperform either alone has become a cornerstone of how organizations are deploying AI today. But what if that assumption is wrong — or at least, far more complicated than we think? In Episode 4 of AI Horizons,  Prasanna “Sonny” Tambe, faculty co-director of Wharton Human AI Research, hosted Gérard Cachon, Fred R. Sullivan Professor of Operations, Information, and Decisions at the Wharton School, and Alex Moehring, assistant professor at Purdue University’s Daniels School of Business, to examine the real-world friction points in human-AI collaboration. Drawing on empirical research and economic theory, the conversation challenged some of the most widely held beliefs about how humans and AI work together, and offered a more grounded way forward.Read More

The Real Barrier to AI Agent Adoption Isn’t Technology — It’s Psychology

Headshots of two people smiling, set against a blue background with gradient and circular patterns.

On April 22, the AI Horizons webinar series from Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR) examined why AI agent adoption keeps stalling, and what the research says leaders should do differently. In this episode, Stefano Puntoni, faculty co-director of WHAIR and the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, joined Thomas McKinlay, founder of Science Says, to present the Wharton Blueprint for AI Agent Adoption. Drawing on academic research and expert interviews with leaders at Google, ServiceNow, Zapier, and Workato, the two unpacked the psychological barriers slowing adoption — and the design strategies that can overcome them. Read More