AI, Employment, and Education (with Tyler Cowen)

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

Tyler Cowen is bullish on the integration of AI into higher education. He's also not worried about its effects on the future workplace. Listen as Cowen speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the reasons for his optimism, and argues that college classes should devote significant time to learning how to use AI. They discuss the future of writing (and thinking) in an academic context, and Cowen's solution to dealing with worries about cheating. Cowen also shares how he personally has adapted to AI, and whether he thinks there's value to a college education designed not to ensure mastery of a subject, but instead to help students become the kind of people they want to be.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.9	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.8	Go to EconTalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.2	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.7	Our email address is mail at econTalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.6	Today is February 24th, 2026.
0:39.8	And before introducing today's guest, I want to give you the results from our survey of your favorite episodes of 2025.
0:45.6	Here are your top 10.
0:47.7	10th, a tie between the economics of tariffs and trade with Doug Irwin and why Christianity needs to help save democracy with
0:55.1	Jonathan Rauch. Nine, how to walk the world with Chris Arnotti. Eight, the music of John and
1:00.8	Paul with Ian Leslie. Seven, Will Godera on unreasonable hospitality. Six, e-con talk episode
1:09.0	number 1,000. That was a solo episode with me.
1:13.1	Number five, The Magic of Tokyo with John McReynolds.
1:16.1	Number four, the perfect tuba with Sam Cignonis.
1:21.0	Three, shampoo, property rights and civilization with Anthony Gill.
1:25.1	Your second most favorite episode was a mind-blowing way of looking at math with David Bessis, and your favorite episode listed by 33% of listeners in the survey, What is Capitalism with Mike Munger? I want to thank everyone for voting and for your comments, which I love receiving. And now for today's guest, Tyler Cowan of George Mason University,
1:47.2	Marginal Revolution, and Conversations with Tyler.
1:50.1	This is Tyler's 20th appearance on the program.
1:52.9	He was last year in November of 24, 2024, talking about the great Vasili Grossman novel,
2:00.0	Life and Fate, which many of you read profitably and enjoyed.
2:03.8	I appreciate hearing from you.
2:05.6	Tyler, welcome back to Econ Talk.
	...

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