It is true that AI has entered the corporate world and is helping ease lots of tasks at various levels in a company. From basic data entry jobs to high level managerial positions, AI is spread out thin and wide. With lots of AI information in the market and excessive usage of AI for smaller, time taking tasks like preparing reports, doing analysis, research, etc, it is important for students to ask, ‘Is AI killing MBA jobs? From a career perspective, this question is a big concern especially for CAT aspirants planning their life-long career in management after completing an MBA degree.
If AI has really taken over the MBA jobs which graduates desperately grab after completing their education, then what is the point of doing an MBA or preparing for the CAT exam? But it is not true. It is only a growing fear of insecurity in the MBA job market which triggers the urge to blame AI for the lack of decent jobs or salary packages. In this blog, detailed study reveals that AI has a positive impact on MBA jobs. At the task level, most of the basic tasks are getting delegated to AI like routine analysis, stakeholder management, etc.
Yes, at a task level, MBA jobs are no longer human centric, AI is everywhere, much faster and better. But, the job value remains the same, it has only shifted toward AI-enabled decision making, stakeholder management, and business leadership, these are the central areas important for a CAT aspirant to capture after completing their MBA course.
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Global Reports on ‘Is AI Killing MBA Jobs’
World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 states that 22% of jobs including MBA jobs will be affected by 2030. But, new roles including MBA based jobs will be created close to 170 million. Displacement combined with new jobs being created reveals that around 78 million jobs will be available in the market.
Current Happening on AI vs MBA Jobs
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) report stated that 90% of companies show no major changes in the MBA jobs or output in the last three years post AI integration in the workplace. This data reveals the following facts:
- AI is present in the MBA jobs today but its changing power is slow.
- Contrasting the fearful statement posed on social media relating to AI killing MBA jobs, AI is changing MBA jobs and it is not happening systematically, it is rather chaotic and disturbed
- As per World Economic Forum, AI and information processing are anticipated to impact nearly 86% of businesses which include MNCs offering MBA jobs by 2030.
AI Is Becoming a Necessary Skill for MBA Jobs
The role of AI has increased significantly in the MBA job market. Due to this, employers are favoring AI integration and stating that the ability to leverage AI is an important skill to acquire for upcoming MBA jobs. Not only is it important to know how to use AI, but that AI leveraging will become one of the ‘top three skills’ in the next five years which will add to your profile. AI must be used for acquiring knowledge and developing strategies.
- CAT aspirants in 2026 must not shun MBA degree but do it with a fluency in AI and build strong managerial fundamentals.
Top MBA Industries Demanding AI
The top MBA industries where management graduates get placed will be demanding AI skills in the upcoming placement cycles. MBA demand combined with AI knowledge will increase in the following fields: Consulting, Finance, IT, Banking, BFSI, Marketing, Operations and others.
| AI Skill Demand Across Top IIMs 2025 | |
| Name of IIM | Top Placement Sectors Demanding AI Skills |
| IIM Bangalore | Consulting- 41%IT- 13%Finance- 13%E-commerce- 12% |
| IIM Calcutta | Consulting- 37.3%Finance- 21.2%General Management- 20.1%IT and Product Management- 14.5% |
| IIM Kozhikode | Consulting- 32%Finance- 19.2%General Management- 16.4%IT and Analytics- 13.5% |
| IIM Indore | Consulting- 35.4%Finance- 14.5%General Management, Operations, and HR- 26.5%IT and Analytics- 10.4%Sales and Marketing- 13.2% |
| IIM Ahmedabad | Consulting – 156 offersBFSI- 83 offersFMCG- 45 offersTotal Offers- 394 |
What is AI Killing in MBA Jobs?
It is not that AI is killing MBA jobs altogether but what it is killing are the low level tasks. With the integration of AI in the workplace, the junior level repetitive tasks are getting more and more automated. This is leading to a rise in output expectations such that one task can be completed by AI in 30 minutes compared to 2-3 days time taken by employees. AI has a deep impact on management teams, reducing the need for more junior level employees and raising the bar for entry roles.
AI Impact by MBA Function
The impact of AI on demanding sectors is spread out across different types of tasks from basic reporting to policy preparation. Even if AI is used to automate consulting, finance or HR tasks, some functions like customer relationsing, problem framing, brand strategy or even leadership are still areas requiring a person to do the work. With AI in the job market, CAT aspirants must prepare their profile for leadership, analytics, communication and other core skills necessary for long-term job security.
| Sector | AI Automated Tasks | Human-led Tasks | CAT Aspirants Must Prepare |
| Consulting | First-draft research, benchmarking, summarizing, etc | Client trust, problem framing, change management, etc | Case thinking + data interpretation + executive communication |
| Finance | Basic computation,, report summaries, anomaly detection, etc | Risk judgment, deal negotiation, stakeholder management, etc | Financial modeling + business context + governance |
| Marketing | Copy variants, segmentation ideas, creative testing plans, etc | Brand strategy, consumer insight, cross-channel orchestration, etc | Consumer behavior + analytics + experimentation |
| Product Management | Product requirements document drafts, user story generation, competitive summaries, etc | Prioritization tradeoffs, customer empathy, roadmap alignment, etc | Metrics + UX thinking + stakeholder leadership |
| HR | Screening support, policy questions & answers, workforce analytics, etc | Culture design, conflict resolution, leadership coaching, etc | Organizational behavior + leadership + data literacy |
What Should Every CAT Aspirant Do Now?
CAT aspirants must work on building an AI backed profile which shows skills necessary to survive in a post AI integrated work environment. Here is what you need to do now as a CAT aspirant to build an MBA + AI proof profile.
- Use and adapt to AI tools for doing MBA skill oriented jobs.
- Learn basic analytics like Excel, SQL, and one BI tool like Power BI or Tableau
- Showcase at least one portfolio project which is published. For instance, projects on market sizing,a competitor mapping, or customer segmentation or a simple pricing analysis using a public data set.
- Keep AI and Big Data as a skill priority to satisfy future MBA job employer expectations.
