Business schools are often heralded as beacons of innovation and strategic thought, yet when it comes to integrating AI into our curricula, we hesitate, shackled by fear of risks and potential pitfalls. Let’s be blunt: this reticence is not just short-sighted; it’s a strategic blunder that risks rendering our students obsolete in a technology-driven marketplace.
As a professor, I’m not here to lecture from an ivory tower; I’m in the trenches with my students, learning and leveraging AI alongside them. The value I add isn’t in dispensing knowledge, but in honing their wisdom, critical thinking, and ability to craft robust strategies using advanced tools.
In my courses, the use of AI is mandatory, not optional. Why? Because skirting around AI doesn’t shield our students—it cripples their future competitiveness. If they don’t learn to leverage AI here, with us, they will enter the workforce at a disadvantage, their lack of AI proficiency a glaring Achilles’ heel.
The divide in access to AI tools among students is another critical issue we can’t afford to ignore. It’s unacceptable that some students have the advantage of premium AI tools, while others make do with basic versions. Every student deserves the same arsenal of advanced tools, and school’s need to provide them (as ASU is showing the way). If we’re serious about equity, every student needs access to the best tools, period.
Our assessment methods? Outdated and outmatched. The way we test—especially in nebulous fields like Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship—needs a radical overhaul. We must shift to evaluations that measure technique, application, and real-world impact of AI tools. In my classes, I’ve scrapped the conventional vague open ended questions (that LLM’s ace) for a rigorous, structured approach. Students must build strategies based on defined criteria, use specified frameworks, and adjust to macroeconomic shifts I throw at them, testing their strategies’ resilience. This isn’t just academic exercise—it’s preparation for the unpredictable dynamics of the real world.
Let’s cut the excuses. It’s time for business education to be as dynamic and driven as the industries we purport to serve. We need to arm our students not just with knowledge, but with the capability and tools to use AI to navigate and shape the future. Anything less, and we’re not just failing our students—we’re failing the future.