In this episode, Priten speaks with Varun Gupta, an Accounting and Economics professor at Wharton County Junior College in the Houston area who has been teaching since 2007. Varun is refreshingly candid about his own complicated relationship with AI—he uses it extensively for lesson planning, assignment creation, and communication, but worries deeply about what happens when students skip the grind entirely. 

Key Takeaways:

• The helicopter problem is real. Using AI to get answers without effort is like taking a helicopter to the top of Mount Everest. You get there, but you missed the point. The grind, the failure, the figuring-it-out—that's where the learning lives.
• Cognitive offloading is already happening to teachers, too. Varun no longer does mental math. He GPS's the airport he's been to hundreds of times. AI is next. The concern isn't hypothetical—it's already underway for him personally.
• Post-COVID is the bigger shift, not post-ChatGPT. Students who came through COVID developed habits of not showing up, not following through, and not asking questions. That behavioral shift is more visible than any change attributable to AI alone.
• The stress is gone—and that's the tell. Before ChatGPT, students peppered him with term paper questions all semester. Now? Silence. They're not less anxious because they're more prepared. They're less anxious because they've already decided how they'll produce the paper.
• There's inherent hypocrisy in the dynamic—and it's worth naming. Using AI to create assignments while discouraging students from using it to complete them isn't perfectly clean. Varun acknowledges it. The distinction is in where the journey matters: for the teacher creating the prompt, or for the student doing the thinking.
• The human value is in the face-to-face. In asynchronous online courses, the line between professor and bot is thin. Where Varun sees his irreplaceable value is in the in-person relationship—lived experience, empathy, career conversations, and the daily modeling of what professional effort actually looks like.

About Varun Gupta:
Varun Gupta, aka, The “Knotty” Economist is a dynamic and engaging economics professor with 19 years of experience making complex concepts both accessible and exciting. He has spent his entire career at Wharton County Jr. College (i. e. the “other” Wharton).  Known for his fun and energetic presentation style, and ever present elaborate necktie,  he has delivered insightful talks at conferences, college professional development events, and civic groups—both live and virtual. A passionate educator, Varun specializes in applying fundamental economic principles to real-world decision-making and classroom engagement. Whether tackling macro, micro, or the economics of everyday life, he brings a unique mix of expertise and humor that keeps audiences learning and laughing. When he’s not using economic concepts to explain the world, he spends time catering to his 4 year old golden doodle Cinnamon.