Blending human touch with AI
The many gifts of technology we have today were once dreams that were translated into reality with the coordinated efforts of innovative, brilliant minds. Every innovation has been received by human beings with awe, but together with scepticism. The emergence of artificial intelligence follows a similar trajectory. AI is indeed perceived as a threat by many due to the fact that it has replaced people in many workplaces and functions. That is precisely why human minds should evolve to be relevant.
With AI came many challenges for every field, including management education. B-Schools need to be creative in using AI to improve themselves, instead of struggling with existential issues and brainstorming ways to address the concerns that AI has created. The traditional MBA will sooner or later lose its sheen. The world is fast-moving to capsule specialisation. Mini- and micro-MBAs with credentials, experiential capstones and action learning projects with real-time application of concepts and frameworks will replace the two-year-long MBA. Executive education in the hybrid mode is the future.
In the era of AI, which is advancing with supersonic speed, B-Schools need to focus on experience and expression.
Experience: Physical and virtual learning spaces need thoughtful design. Well-curated AI-embedded programmes delivered with a customised fusion of online, offline and AR/VR experiences are present and future. B-Schools need to focus on building experiences for their management students and corporate executives. Rather than penalising them for incorporating AI tools into their learning journey, we should educate them on the responsible use of AI. It is not a question of human minds or AI. It is a matter of human minds and AI, where coexistence is the key.
B-Schools need to upgrade to a growth mindset and re-engineer their programmes, content, delivery and evaluation, to make the best use of AI. A personalised blend of social, cultural and adaptive intelligence is still favourable to human beings. The combination of essential skills and AI is crucial for stakeholders today. While B-Schools have started making strategies on how to be relevant in the era of AI, they should not forget that strategy, in the absence of culture and mindset, looks good only on paper. AI-embedded culture has to be the new norm. Communication platforms, the library and other academic resources and infrastructure – everything should be facelifted. Establishing a distinct niche and ensuring its flawless execution is crucial.
Expression is the next crucial aspect in the era of AI. How one expresses one’s thoughts, ideas and perspectives, along with decisions, is the skill required today. AI can create content, but the human skill of communicating intentions with impact is difficult to automate. The focus of B-Schools, therefore, should be on fostering communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and inculcating social and cultural intelligence to thrive in this global world.
Student grooming and training are needed to present the AI-generated content with human thoughtfulness and personal touch to suit the context. While AI is capable of offering market analysis based on current trends, only a human being can bring empathy and intuition
when dealing with internal and external stakeholders. Courses on social and cultural intelligence, executive presence, influence and storytelling, learnings from literature, and communicating across cultures need to be integral to the programme curriculum.
Expression in the era of AI indicates the convergence of the human mind and technology. Students should understand prompt engineering, be able to decipher data critically, and present the results clearly. B-Schools should integrate AI in every sphere, including teaching, research, administration, and job readiness, among others. The wise use of AI requires high investments in faculty development. B-Schools need to understand that placement numbers do not define employability; they need to nurture adaptive students with a progressive outlook. AI brings along concerns related to privacy. This peril of AI also needs to be managed appropriately by embedding ethical literacy in the curriculum.
To sum it up, B-Schools must master the art of humanising AI rather than getting intimidated by it and must focus on cherishing the complementarity of human compassion and technology in the era of AI to thrive.