“If you’re in a field that’s typically slower to adopt new things, adopting it is an opportunity to create a competitive advantage. It’s less a ‘oh my gosh’, if I don’t do this im falling behind,’ and more of a, ‘if I do this, I can create an edge.’ “
Alex Gabbi, Associate Professor, McCombs School of Business
Spend a few minutes scrolling on LinkedIn, and you’ll have a pretty clear idea of what the rise of AI has done to the average career professional. It’s disrupting every industry. Software developers are rethinking how they work. And an LLM-powered chatbot is appearing in every app on your phone, whether you want it or not. In the face of all this, people are feeling the pressure to upskill—not to take advantage of new technology, but solely so they don’t get left behind. And for many, not knowing where to start only makes it worse.
Associate Professor Alex Gabbi of the McCombs School of Business doesn’t believe it has to be that way. He encourages his students to see the real story of AI, which isn’t panic, but rather one of the most remarkable learning opportunities in a generation. For nearly two decades, Gabbi has taught global entrepreneurship, international business operations, and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, and now his focus has turned to AI. His newest courses at UT Austin’s Center for Professional Education (CPE) are designed to show working professionals how to use AI in ways that actually matter, because keeping up with AI doesn’t mean understanding its intricacies—it’s finding a use for a new tool.
When it comes to the anxiety of being left behind, Gabbi has heard it all before. He compares the current moment to the arrival of the internet, or the first time a bookkeeper had to learn Excel. “I don’t think panic is the right word from a skilling standpoint,” he says. “It’s an unbelievably sophisticated tool that can very much accelerate productivity. And if you don’t learn how to use it, you will be at a competitive disadvantage. But that’s no different than any other technology that came before it.”
That perspective shapes everything about how Gabbi teaches. He’s quick to point out that AI cuts both ways. “If you rely on it exclusively, you’ll be average,” he says. “The good news is that it lifts everybody who is below average to average.” Getting ahead, he argues, requires something AI can’t manufacture on its own: human judgment, experience, and creativity. The edge belongs to people who use AI as an amplifier, not a glorified personal assistant.
For many professionals, AI feels less like technological advancement and more like a current pulling them under. Gabbi understands the feeling, but he thinks the instinct to resist it is the wrong move. Most people don’t need to escape the flow; they just need the confidence to move with it. “The river continues to flow, but you’ve jumped in a boat,” he says. “And now you’re floating with the river, and you’re confident that you’re going to keep on floating and not sink.”
That’s his definition of AI literacy, and it’s a subtle rejection of the idea that any single course can make someone fluent in a technology that is updating itself every few weeks. “I now have a comfort level where I don’t fear the technology,” he says. “I know where to go to stay up to speed. I have the confidence to experiment with the next advancement that comes out.” Knowing AI, in other words, is less about aptitude and more about attitude.
That means AI isn’t just for software developers and data scientists. Gabbi argues that non- technical professionals may even have more to gain than everyone else. “If you’re in a field that’s typically slower to adopt new things, adopting it is an opportunity to create a competitive advantage,” he says. “It’s less a, ‘oh my gosh, if I don’t do this, I’m falling behind,’ and more of a, ‘if I do this, I can create an edge.’”
Consider a small business owner running a travel agency. Ask any AI tool to build a vacation itinerary, and the results are immediate and impressive. But Gabbi, who co-runs a travel consultancy with his son, knows what AI can’t replicate: the domain knowledge of someone who has actually been to Italy, who knows the local guides, who knows which restaurants are authentic, and who knows which hotels are worth staying in even when the photos don’t show it. The technology handles volume while humans bring the value.
Ultimately, it comes down to philosophy. “A good course centers more on creating the mindset,” he says. “How do I critically think about AI tools? How do I think about the business problems I’m trying to solve? And how do I map those into the right solutions?” The goal isn’t to make students fluent in the mechanics of machine learning; it’s to help them find places in their own work where AI becomes a force multiplier. With the right mindset, Gabbi says, the fear tends to take care of itself.
With all the noise on LinkedIn and beyond, it’s easy to feel like you’re already behind. And yes, the river is moving whether you’re in it or not, but the good news is that you don’t need a mechanical engineering degree to build a boat. You just need curiosity, a willingness to experiment and an openness to seeing how AI fits into your own work.
“I don’t think it’s as intimidating as people think once you get down to it,” says Gabbi. “If you just sit down with it, it’s awesome.” For professionals who have been watching from the shore, that might be the only push they need.