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Students who are sick of not being allowed to use AI to finish their work might want to transfer to a business school.
Driving the news: Some business schools really want MBA students to be AI experts. Even outside of classes dedicated to AI, certain professors are encouraging students to use it for tasks from coding to coming up with business ideas to general course work.
Why it matters: This reverses the contentious relationship many professors have with AI, seeing it as a form of plagiarism or a crutch that deprives students of learning things themselves. But if business students are going to be using AI in the workplace anyway, some schools figure they might as well teach students how to use this tool properly.
Yes, but: Some academics believe it's better to teach AI in the broader context of applying disruptive technologies to the business world. Teaching students to think critically about practical applications might be a more useful skill than memorizing technical information.
- MBAs still need to be able to work without AI, in case of outages or if AI isn’t as widely used in certain workplaces.
- There is also an obvious risk that comes with using technology prone to errors and biases as a learning tool.
In Canada: Business schools like Rotman, Smith, and Schulich have Master’s programs dedicated to AI, where students can specialize in how to identify business opportunities in AI and implement it in the workplace, or as part of broader business analytics programs.
- MBA programs also have individual classes on things like AI commercialization and using machine learning in the finance sector.
Zoom out: AI-powered learning might not be done when school’s out. In March, Accenture launched LearnVantage, an AI platform clients can use to upskill their staff on new innovations, which will receive a US$1 billion investment over three years.