While MBA job prospects are expected to remain stable in the near future, new hires will be held to higher standards inside rapidly evolving workplaces, Cornell research finds.

According to a new report from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, instead of performing research, data analysis and presentation design, new hires will need to oversee AI tools performing these tasks – as if they were supervising a junior employee. The research team called this “competency evolution,” which means that producing information is no longer as valuable as determining whether information is accurate.

“This is not about narrowing skill sets,” said Vishal Gaur, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and co-author of “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on MBA Hiring, Skills Expectations, and Business School Curriculum, Spring 2026,” published June 9 as a working paper on SSRN. “It’s about expanding what individuals are capable of doing by combining strong business fundamentals with the effective use of technology.”

The research team – which included Jim Doucette, MBA ’89, retired strategy consultant at EY; Madhur Dixit, MBA ’26; Cindy Gao, MBA ’26; and Helena Koo, MBA ’26 – interviewed senior, mid-career and entry-level professionals in 30 organizations across financial services, consulting, tech, media and e-commerce, finding patterns in AI deployment and shifting business needs.

The surveyed organizations said that they are increasingly automating the entry-level work formerly handled by MBA graduates. Based on the interviews, the research team predicts that hiring managers will begin to favor AI fluency, communication and critical thinking skills in job candidates. AI can parse huge amounts of data, but it often lacks human context, leading to flawed reasoning or hallucinated answers, the researchers said. This means the ability to spot inaccuracies in AI-generated work will become a significant differentiator for job candidates, the team found.

Additionally, they report that human-centered skills like storytelling, relationship management and persuasion will likely become more valuable, since they can’t be automated.

All of these predictions rest on an important caveat, the researchers said: As AI tools streamline workflows, executives expect revenue will increase faster than headcount. The majority of organizations interviewed have invested heavily in AI tools and will face pressure to protect the bottom line if they don’t meet growth expectations. This could result in job losses or hiring freezes, the research team said.

The researchers also predict that analyst and associate positions may become vulnerable as AI becomes more adept at completing their work. Simultaneously, they report that AI will create new positions that MBA graduates can prepare themselves to take on, such as AI risk and compliance, AI transformation and AI product management.

The research team recommends incorporating AI in coursework, and including AI ethics and governance as a standard requirement for MBA graduates. They also suggest that assignments should prioritize the interpretation of knowledge and hypothesis development over information retrieval.

“Our goal is to prepare students to lead in a technology-driven environment,” Gaur said. “That means building AI fluency while strengthening the judgement, leadership and problem-solving skills that remain uniquely human.”

Nina Collavo is a writer for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.