ChatGPT Passes Wharton MBA Exam
A breakthrough in AI-assisted education
The Gist
ChatGPT is a computer program that is good at understanding human language.
A professor from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School gave ChatGPT an MBA exam, and ChatGPT passed with a score between B- and B.
MBA exams are usually difficult and only given to people who studied business and management, but ChatGPT was able to pass without ever going to school or taking a class.
ChatGPT was fed with information about business and management and used that information to answer the test questions correctly.
The success of ChatGPT raises concerns about AI chatbots potentially causing cheating, but some educators are not worried yet.
While ChatGPT can assist people in learning, it doesn't replace the role of a human teacher.
The Wharton professor sees the potential for AI to enhance education and challenges educators to find innovative ways to engage students.
More Detail
A recent study by Professor Christian Terwiesch from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has shown that the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT passed the final exam for the school's Master of Business Administration (MBA) program with a score between B- and B. This remarkable achievement demonstrates the bot's ability to automate some of the skills of highly-compensated knowledge workers, including those held by MBA graduates such as analysts, managers, and consultants.
In his research paper "Would ChatGPT Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on Its Performance in the Operations Management Course," Terwiesch highlighted that ChatGPT did an amazing job on basic operations management and process analysis questions, even those based on case studies. The bot also provided excellent explanations, showing its remarkable adaptability in response to human hints.
While the success of ChatGPT raises concerns about the potential for AI chatbots to inspire cheating, some educators are not worried yet. However, the debate around AI chatbots and their impact on education is ongoing, with many experts acknowledging the potential harm they could cause in the future. A spokesperson from OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, declined to comment.
It's important to note that the ChatGPT used in this experiment is a previous version of the latest ChatGPT, which is fine-tuned from a model in the GPT-3.5 series. Despite its impressive results, Terwiesch acknowledged that the current version of ChatGPT still makes surprising mistakes in simple calculations at a 6th-grade level and is not capable of handling more advanced process analysis questions.
Still, Terwiesch believes that the performance of ChatGPT on the MBA exam has important implications for business school education. He sees the need for exam policies, curriculum design that focuses on collaboration between humans and AI, opportunities to simulate real-world decision-making processes, improved teaching productivity, and more. He also believes that AI has the potential to enhance education and challenges educators to find innovative ways to engage students.
ChatGPT passing the MBA exam is a breakthrough in AI-assisted education, and could be an indictment on what students actually learn at top-tier MBA programs.
While it raises concerns about potential cheating and the impact of AI on education, it also opens up new possibilities for enhancing the learning experience for students. Educators should find creative and effective ways to integrate AI into their teaching and bring the benefits of this technology to their students.