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Ethan Mollick

Associate Professor of Management; Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

  • Associate Professor of Management; Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania1
  • Co-Director, Generative AI Labs at Wharton1

Ethan Mollick is an associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, studying the effects of AI on work, entrepreneurship, and education, and co-directs the Generative AI Labs at Wharton. For a general audience, Ethan Mollick writes One Useful Thing, a research-based newsletter on the implications of AI for work, education, and life. Ethan Mollick is the author of the book Co-Intelligence, and its successor, Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, was released by Portfolio on October 20, 2026.123

At a glance

Current roles
Associate Professor of Management; Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar +1 more
Sector
University
Education
Harvard, Penn
Work listed
4
Sources cited
5
Profile reviewed

Research and teaching

At Wharton, Mollick holds the title of Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar and is a Rowan Fellow, with research interests in AI, innovation, entrepreneurship, and education. Mollick earned a PhD and MBA at MIT's Sloan School of Management, and before academia co-founded a startup company.1

Mollick was part of a team of social scientists that ran a pre-registered field experiment with Boston Consulting Group consultants using GPT-4, reported in the 2023 working paper Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier. The paper introduced the idea of a jagged frontier, in which some tasks fall easily within AI's capabilities while similar-seeming ones fall outside it.14

With Lilach Mollick, Ethan Mollick has written a series of papers on using AI in teaching, such as Assigning AI: Seven Approaches for Students, with Prompts, and work on AI-agent classroom simulations such as PitchQuest, a venture capital pitching simulator. The Generative AI Labs at Wharton build research-based educational simulations and open-source tools for educators, including the Primer initiative.15

Writing

Mollick's first book, The Unicorn's Shadow, was published by Wharton University Press in 2020 and addresses myths about startups, founders, and investors. Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI followed from Portfolio in 2024.1

Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, also from Portfolio, is presented as a field guide to working alongside AI that is sometimes but not always more capable than people, built around the jagged frontier and the exponential pace of AI progress. Mollick also writes the One Useful Thing newsletter, stating that each post is written by Mollick, with AI feedback sought only on a finished draft.32

Work and contributions

  • One Useful Thing Show, channel or publication

    Writes the newsletter, a research-based view of the implications of AI for work, education, and life.2

  • Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI Show, channel or publication

    Author of the book, a guide to living and working with AI, from Portfolio, on sale October 20, 2026.3

  • The Unicorn's Shadow Show, channel or publication

    Author of this 2020 book from Wharton University Press on myths that hold back startups, founders, and investors.1

  • Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier Published research

    Co-author, with Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Edward McFowland III, Karim Lakhani and others, of the 2023 working paper on a field experiment measuring how GPT-4 affected consultants' work at Boston Consulting Group.14

Timeline

  1. Published The Unicorn's Shadow with Wharton University Press.1
  2. Announced the working paper Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier, a field experiment with Boston Consulting Group.4
  3. Published Co-Intelligence, Living and Working with AI, with Penguin Portfolio.1
  4. Released Co-Existence, The Next Phase of AI, published by Portfolio.3

Where they work

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References

5 sources · profile reviewed Oct 21, 2026 · data updated Oct 21, 2026

  1. Ethan Mollick - Management DepartmentThe Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  2. About - One Useful ThingOne Useful Thing · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  3. Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AIEthan Mollick · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  4. Centaurs and Cyborgs on the Jagged Frontier — One Useful ThingEthan Mollick (One Useful Thing) · Announcement · published Sep 16, 2023 · accessed Oct 21, 2026
  5. Wharton Generative AI Labs — homeThe Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania · Official page · accessed Oct 21, 2026