ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
Theodoros Evgeniou “There are top-down and bottom-up approaches to this. Bottom-up approaches tend to be easier, where you might have faculty getting together once in a while to share what they do and how they do it. In terms of top-down approaches, we may need to develop AI principles and practices for MBA-level education. These would probably not differ too much between schools and there might be a couple of different templates from which rules and parameters for faculty can be set. “Further down the line, we may need to provide tools to help faculty make sure that they use AI in ways that are both effective and appropriate. However, that is more likely to be a point of discussion 10 years from now.” Craig Robinson “We must let people experiment and we have run symposium sessions, more at departmental level, where people come together and a colleague presents a case of what they do and how they use AI, which people then discuss. The challenge is that it’s always the same people who attend these events and that may be where more of a top‑down intervention is required.” How can business schools adapt their programmes and curricula to effectively prepare students for the ever-evolving landscape of AI and data analytics? Theodoros Evgeniou “I’ve been thinking about how the implications of AI differ from the past 10 years of discussions around big data and data analytics programmes. There, the applications have been more technical and specific to certain processes, such as marketing operations. AI and generative AI, on the other hand, require students to understand and start thinking about a lot more aspects.” Abdullah Abonamah “Engineering and computer science schools have given us all these wonderful tools, but it’s the business schools that are responding to how to integrate these into the business community and wider society. So, I suspect that the trend towards integrating the use of AI in decision- making, governance, policies, impact, innovation and entrepreneurship will amount to more than simply offering an elective.”
Eno Amasi Maycock “We have already created a pathway for MBA students on artificial intelligence and business analytics. It has proven to be very popular because of the technology’s increasing use.” Jessica Chelekis “We are trying to approach these things at a programme level, but it does feel like we’re in the Wild West. Many of the things that we don’t have yet, in terms of regulations or frameworks, might not be developed for another 10 years, so right now we’re just trying to cobble it together based on our experiences. “Something was said at AMBA’s global conference in Seville last year that has stayed with me and I’ve been trying to implement the thinking in our MBA programme. A participant expressed their frustration with the sudden focus on trying to get software engineers or developers to come into business schools and talk about AI. Their view was that it’s not just developers and designers we need to talk to, but also philosophers and sociologists so that we can bring in the ethical, moral and sociological implications of AI. “These considerations relate to the critical thinking skills that will ensure students continue to add value above and beyond what AI can currently do.” Theodoros Evgeniou “Perhaps what will be most useful with regards to leveraging these technologies for the betterment of the world will be something different to the current consensus. For example, a big part of the MBA curriculum is around behavioural sciences. Now, imagine having a whole new curriculum about AI behaviour. One of the most interesting and fastest-growing areas in machine learning and AI is what’s called ‘mechanistic interpretability’ or, in other words, artificial neuroscience. “The idea is that while neuroscience studies the human brain, artificial neuroscience studies a trillion parameter systems within the technology to see how it affects behaviour. This is something we know very little about right now and we might need to have courses to help us understand the behaviour and personality of AI systems in the next five years. In so doing, we will become behavioural scientists where the object of study is AI in different forms or shapes, which will help us make better use of the technology.”
PANEL PARTICIPANTS CHAIR Tim Banerjee Dhoul
Content editor AMBA & BGA DELEGATES
Abdullah Abonamah President and provost Abu Dhabi School of Management
Eno Amasi Maycock Executive director of MBA programmes Coventry Business School Coventry University
Jessica Chelekis MBA director Brunel Business School Brunel University London
Tamim Elbasha Associate dean for learning and quality development Audencia Business School
Theodoros Evgeniou Professor and executive education programme director, Insead
Craig Robinson Associate dean for accreditation
King’s Business School King’s College London
Ambition | MARCH/APRIL 2024 | 23
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