When Professor Ryan Wilson began his career, he remembers corporate clients arriving with thick tax returns filled out in pencil for review, despite the emergence of computerized processing. Use computers, skeptics at the time warned, and jobs would disappear. Instead, the opposite happened.
“The jobs never went away—in fact, they kept expanding because we became more efficient,” said Wilson, now Henry B. Tippie Chair in Accounting. “The jobs also became more rewarding, because accountants were able to deliver more value.”
Fast forward to today, and Wilson sees artificial intelligence as the tool that will continue to grow efficiency and free workers to engage in higher-level functions. Rather than worrying about AI replacing accountants, he believes it will elevate them.
“Graduates are going to be starting at a lot closer to what we traditionally think of as a manager’s job,” he said. “They’ll be evaluating, thinking critically, and consulting with clients. AI can analyze scenarios, but it can’t advise a business on what’s truly in its best interest.”
Emily Campion, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship, says it’s easy to overestimate AI’s reach. Generative tools can churn through vast amounts of information and mimic polished answers, but they can’t replicate experience.
“Generative models are like a newly minted physician,” she said. “They have all the textbook knowledge they could possibly absorb. But they don’t have experience. They haven’t seen how ailments manifest in real life. A mid-career doctor, by contrast, has both the explicit textbook knowledge and the tacit knowledge that makes them a more accurate diagnostician. That’s what separates us from the machines.”
That distinction is why she doesn't view AI as a job killer.
“We’ve navigated industrial revolutions before. There was a point when all sales were in person—now most are online. Occupations evolve, skill sets rearrange, and new ones emerge.”
Her advice is simple: leverage AI as a tool to be more productive, but don’t outsource everything. The “mundane” parts of a job— writing a first draft, wrestling with data—often build the foundation for deeper expertise.
For Tippie alumni—whether new in their careers or decades removed—the message is less about fearing replacement and more about adaptation. Use AI to automate the tedious, reduce errors, and increase productivity.
But lean into what remains distinctly human: judgment, relationships, creativity, and strategic thinking.
Wilson says Tippie alumni should be proud of how today’s graduates are being trained with that future in mind.
“At Iowa, we’ve always pushed students to be critical thinkers,” he said. “AI is making an accounting education and a master’s in accounting even more valuable. That’s why they’ll thrive.”
Want to be an AI expert?
Tippie now offers a certificate on the topic:
This article appeared in the 2025 issue of Iowa Ledger.