We’ve all heard it — somewhere between pre-term happy hours and the first week of classes, someone asks: “What’s the one thing we should all understand before we graduate?” The answer comes fast: AI. But then comes the question that sticks: “Okay, but where do we even start?”
That’s where the AI & Analytics Club comes in, as a launchpad for the rest of us: the skeptics, the builders, the business-minded. It’s a space in which to explore how data, algorithms, and machine learning are shaping the world and what role we want to play in it. Whether you’re building the next Duolingo powered by machine learning, using AI to optimize your stock portfolio, or investing in the next wave of health-care x AI startups, the AI & Analytics Club is where you start. We’ve got coders, consultants, VCs, product managers, and the perpetually curious — all figuring it out together.
Since its inception, the club’s done a bit of everything. We’ve hosted conversations with founders, investors, and thinkers from a16z to Meta. We’ve gotten tactical with SQL, Python, and AI/ML boot camps for product managers and non-technical audiences. We’ve sparked creativity with vibe coding challenges, and we’ve argued over whether AI will replace consultants or bankers first (or both). And yes, we’ve tried — and failed — to engineer the perfect ChatGPT prompt on the first attempt.
But what keeps us going isn’t the answers. It’s the questions that keep piling up: If AI knows everything, what makes human judgment still matter? Are we building tools that help the world, or break it faster? And if AI can help you build anything, what would you create?
We don’t have all the answers yet, but until ChatGPT (or agentic AI, if we’re splitting hairs) learns to run a Wharton club, we’ll keep asking the questions ourselves — and helping Wharton lead the way into what’s next.
Published as “Figuring Out AI Together” in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of Wharton Magazine.
