Dr Sumit Bhardwaj, Area Chair and Associate Professor (Business Analytics), Jaipuria School of Business, Ghaziabad

With the evolution of AI, transformation in various business fields is evident. Whether it is related to selection of business which is AI based or involvement of AI in making decisions, in the last decade AI has taken the market by storm. However, a crucial thing to highlight is that AI is not new but is based on age-old logics.

To fit best into the market, one needs to upgrade themselves continuously and the same is true with AI. As AI progressed, jobs associated with AI have also grown. Data engineers, Data Scientists, AI & ML engineers, Business Analysts etc. are to name a few. Also, data analysis-based programming languages like Python, R and skills like analytic ability are the most sought after and learned to secure a job in AI dominated scenario. 

With such advancement, we can clearly see the launching of various AI based academic courses. Undergraduate courses in this context include B.Tech.(AI), B.Tech.(ML) and B.Tech. (Data Science), while postgraduate courses launched in this field are MBA (Data Science), MBA (Business Analytics), M.Sc. and MTech. (Data Science & Artificial Intelligence) etc.

Many reputable universities/ institutions are offering certificates, diploma and other short-term courses to fill up the gap of skills related to AI. AI driven education not only helps one upskill but also to develop logical solution-based approach in various fields. Also, with due advancements we have seen many new businesses coming which are purely based on AI e.g. Open AI. With the fast expansion of AI, it has become essential to integrate it with basic as well as business education. It is inevitable to adopt AI in its curriculum to meet the growing demand of people skilled in AI and ML for business and industry.

AI helps not only by providing analytical assistance but also by automating day-to-day tasks. Besides having skill set and knowledge, one can increase efficiency by incorporating AI in one’s day-to-day tasks. AI can also help simulate many conditions which were previously not possible, hence results and predictions can be analyzed accurately and efficiently. Techniques like risk analysis, sensitivity analysis and AI can be used in business intelligence to predict challenges in the business to be better prepared to meet the same.

While incorporating AI and ML in business education, the focus could be on collaborative learning.  While students are being exposed to simulation-based software, they learn to deal with the presumptive challenges and case studies resulting in increase in their experience with the real time problems thereby making them more efficient and accurate to deal with such situations.

Generative AI is another rapidly growing area, revolutionizing creative tasks such as content generation, design, and coding. Tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E, for example, are enhancing productivity by generating human-like text and images. In business education, incorporating Generative AI enables students to explore innovation and automation beyond traditional analytical tasks, fostering creative problem-solving and efficient project execution. As businesses increasingly adopt these tools, understanding their applications becomes essential for maintaining a competitive edge in an AI-driven market.

Though AI is a useful and helpful tool in business learning, it carries disadvantages if not handled with proper care. For this we must educate and train our manpower to use the AI related tools to the best benefits for the organization, avoiding its negative effects.

An intriguing aspect of AI learning is that it helps professional learners through adaptive learning, judging students’ performance based on data based predictive personalized assessments. Hence, it becomes easy to identify students’ traits and assign suitable tasks based on their traits.

Academia-Industry cooperation also plays an important part in the advancement of AI and ML. As it provides real-time hands-on AI training and real-world problems using the AI tools. There by helping to hone their skills to take better decisions.

The emphasis on lifelong learning is also relevant in AI and ML as the avenues of this area are exponentially developing. The need for lifelong learning is more in view of the vastness and rapid developments in AI and ML.

AI is going to occupy the main role in almost all the business activities, though the proportion may differ from stream to stream. It becomes more important to train the future managers to deal with these challenges by empowering them with AI and ML.