AI Can’t High-Five You
Why Professors Still Matter in Business School
Remember that one professor who saw something in you no one else did? The one who told you to keep going when you thought you’d hit your limit? AI doesn’t do that.
Sure, business schools are rolling out AI tools to assist with grading, case study analysis, and even answering student questions. It’s efficient, shiny, and vaguely futuristic. But learning—real, transformative learning—has never been about efficiency. It’s about connection.
AI can’t pull a student aside and say, “You’re better than this.” It doesn’t know when a student’s silence in a strategy class is masking uncertainty or when their frustration in a group project is a sign they’re on the verge of a breakthrough. It doesn’t laugh at a clever business pitch or create that quiet moment of encouragement that stays with you long after you’ve graduated.
The best lessons in business school often happen in the cracks—a quick aside after a class debate, a shared laugh over a bold market entry strategy, a look that says, “You’ve got what it takes.” These aren’t in the syllabus. They’re human moments, and they’re irreplaceable. And what get’s me up in the morning.
AI can teach frameworks, sure. But it can’t inspire the student who’s convinced they’ll never understand valuation models. It can’t high-five a student after they nail their first case presentation or call them out, lovingly, when they’re not contributing in a team. It can’t rewrite someone’s story from “average” to “leader.”
Let AI handle the grunt work—the spreadsheets, the admin, the tedious. But leave the mentoring, the cheerleading, and the career-defining conversations to the humans. That’s where the magic happens.