At a recent keynote hosted by Anand S from the management studies department of IIT-Madras, who describes himself as an ‘LLM psychologist’, spoke to MBA students about a future where AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), is set to reshape not just how people learn, but also the very nature of future job roles that will exist.
A gold‑medalist MBA graduate from IIM Bangalore and an IIT Madras alumnus, Anand co‑founded Gramener and is now part of Straive. He is widely recognised as one of India’s top 10 data scientists and is also a frequent speaker at TEDx and leading industry summits.
What began as a candid admission of growing anxiety about the very existence of certain roles a few years down the line, owing to AI, quickly unravelled into a clear-eyed account of the career turbulence that lies ahead for the next generation of graduates.
“A fair bit of the stuff that you are going to learn in the next two years is going to be completely outdated. Some of it is already completely outdated,” Anand said.
AI is no longer just a tool; it’s a fundamental disruptor of white-collar work. Anand walked attendees through stories and live demos, showing how today’s LLMs can execute in minutes what once took teams of consultants or analysts weeks.
In an effort to humanise the impact of these changes on job roles, he shared a telling example. He described how a client had invested heavily to build a machine learning model to optimise construction tiling. But when Anand uploaded the client’s data to ChatGPT, it produced functional code and a working prototype in about 15 minutes.
“This is a project that would have normally taken about six to eight weeks as a pilot and would have cost at least $50,000 to $100,000,” Anand said, noting that such disruptions signal “the ability for models to think independently”. “They can start replacing some kinds of people. At least we are in the early stages,” he added.
It wasn’t just data science on the chopping block—Anand’s walkthrough highlighted the demise or drastic transformation of jobs in market research, strategy consulting, financial analysis and even contract risk management.
Using live demonstrations, he showed how LLMs can cluster, segment and interpret survey data. “The premise is: get the AI to do all the grunt work, validate it…but please take credit,” Anand commented. For students, he added, “Do less grunt work. If it can be done by the LLM, at least learn how the LLM will do it. Try it. Use it. Don’t use it. That’s your choice. Definitely review it.”
Anand’s analysis painted a stark picture of the evolving job landscape. Roles centred around coding, content creation, data entry, and even certain forms of analysis are rapidly diminishing, with LLMs now able to handle these tasks “for the price of about 0.2 cents”, he noted while describing how the work of financial and business analysts can now be fully automated.
From live student input, Anand distilled a telling list of skills seen as losing ground, namely coding, content generation and data analysis.
Yet, the future, he stressed, is not all about programming. Instead, Anand forecasts that lasting value will lie in human-centric skills. “There’s going to be an AI operations specialist who will know how to use AI better, [as well as] an emotional intelligence coach, ethics and compliance officer and customer support specialist.”
He connected these insights to the broader consensus in research, noting that creative and analytical thinking, technological literacy and adaptability are gaining importance.
“AI, big data, technological literacy and creative thinking…are important and will continue to be more important,” he affirmed, in reference to the World Economic Forum’s future skills report.
For MBA students uncertain how to prepare for this shift, Anand offered a blend of practicality and reassurance.
He admitted that the most apparent use of an LLM is straightforward: feed in a problem, get a solution and submit the result. “It is not a terrible thing.”
However, he urged aspirants to aim higher. “Try to do something more than the LLM and actually be employable—try these: use the LLM to challenge you, as a sparring partner.”
He suggested uploading course material and having LLMs quiz, critique, and push students in much the same way a mentor or tough instructor might.
Notably, Anand warned students not to get too attached to any one job definition or skill, echoing the need for adaptability and what he described as “a strong opinion, weakly held”.
“Flexibility may be one of the most critical skills in general and certainly in these chaotic times,” he advised, suggesting that the entire arc of an MBA may have to bend to a world where job roles and career ladders are perpetually in flux.
Anand concluded the Q&A with a series of thought-provoking questions about empathy, truth and future-proof skills. Would managing people still matter in a world increasingly shaped by machines?
“Networking will become more important in the era of LLMs. Empathy will become more important, but I’m also hearing the opposite,” he responded.
He acknowledged that feedback and emotional connection may follow the same unpredictable arc as everything else touched by AI. “Could go either way… At least to keep up and compete with LLMs, I’m learning to be nicer to people.”
The audience seemed acutely aware that the era of business-as-usual MBAs is coming to an end.
“Think about what your CV is going to look like in 2027. What is it that is going to get you a job when LLMs can do a significant portion of many jobs that people are doing today? Keep that at the back of your head and work,” Anand urged.
The post Thinking of an MBA? Here’s How LLMs are Redefining It appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
