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Like most industries, business schools race to respond to artificial intelligence not only by teaching it, but also by integrating it into the curriculum.
Once AI is at the heart of business strategy, executive education programs need to evolve to help leaders understand their promises and pitfalls. From generative AI tools to artistic approaches that promote creativity, schools are open to the best ways to prepare executives in the AI era.
According to the Graduate School Management Admissions Council (GMAC), almost 80% of business schools now incorporate AI into their teaching and learning in one way or another.
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However, there is a tendency that the emphasis does not exist in coder training. Rather, the focus is on nurturing “strategically fluent leaders,” as Harris Kyriakou of Essec Business School, near Paris. For example, Essec’s program aims to make the opaque “black box” of AI easier to understand, allowing management to make informed and responsible decisions instead of blindly delegating strategic choices to machines.
Similarly, at Trinity Business School in Dublin, Michael Flynn, director of executive education, says executive programs try to combine digital ency with a “human-centered perspective.”
Damien Walsh, new program development director at Semiconductor, recently completed Trinity’s driving performance in the AI and Analytics program. “The growth of AI is a major opportunity for the cloud power solutions developed by the Limerick team,” he says. “However, AI has a major impact on how to develop new products, from which projects to decide which projects to invest in, to how to check the integrity of the design. This course shows that understanding the requirements of a dataset for training AI algorithms can help determine where AI can be used effectively for new product development.”
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AI is woven into the design and delivery of education itself at INSEAD, says Phanish Puranam, who heads AI business programs at a business school in Fontainebleau, south of Paris.
He highlights the potential for modern AI transformation, but points out that the school’s goal is to teach leaders to use AI “thinking with many minds” rather than simply offloading thoughts into algorithms. INSEAD’s executive education portfolio includes courses that help leaders develop ethical frameworks and understand EU AI regulations and prototype AI solutions. Tools such as VSTRAT and QINECT allow participants to simulate strategic decision-making and AI-supported negotiations.
Imperial Business School in London employs an all-in approach, requiring that all executive education staff complete AI in their business innovation programmes. Russell Miller, director of learning solutions and innovation, says this is incorporating AI expertise into every aspect of the school. The new program, responsible leadership in a complex world, teaches participants to maintain ethical values amid AI-driven pressure.
ESCP asked Chatgpt to generate images of potential future classrooms ©ESCP/CHATGPT
The partnership with Openai, the maker of ChatGpt, helps ESCP Business Schools embed similar generation tools into their learning. Anne-Laure Augerard, AI deployment project manager for a school with six campuses in Europe, said the initiative, from providing AI-driven feedback to creating course content. Executive Master of one program, Digital Innovation, and entrepreneurial leadership encourages learners to use AI tools for productivity and reflection.
Her colleagues at ESCP, the Sylvain Bureau, are taking a more creative tack. His new executive program, launched this summer, explores how AI and Art can come together to break strict thinking patterns. He warns that AI may improve efficiency, but it risks “decreasing the creativity of companies” because it relies on patterns, but innovation will succeed in breaking them. Professor Bureau’s course ends with participants creating original artworks and bringing artistic disruption to corporate strategy.
Other business schools that push the boundaries include IEES in Barcelona. There, Kandarp Mehta’s AI-driven negotiation platform will help participants improve their emotional intelligence using dynamic avatars.
In Audencia, France, executives from the AI+ sales program are actually building AI agents. Olga Batrak, Head of Open Executive and Custom Executive Programs, describes this as part of the broader Metier + AI series. This is an approach to tailoring AI applications to specific professions such as telecommunications and sales.
Case studies: From concepts to customers
As the digital innovation manager for Wertgarantie, a German insurance company and guarantee provider, Fynn Wolken used his time as executive master at Digital Innovation and ESCP of entrepreneurial leadership to turn the theory into practical impact. For the innovation project, he created generative AI chatbots to enhance customer service for the company’s 8MN clients.
“I was very aware of AI before the program, but my experience with ESCP helped me understand what works, what AI suits, and what it is, dispelling the myths and hype around it,” Wolken especially welcomes the “scientific approach” to how AI works. “We were able to look under the hood of technology and analyze how language models work.
“The Openai initiative in school was amazing because it was possible to experiment with licenses. We did everything from actual coding to marketing and branding to developing apps in one day.”
A trip to open in Silicon Valley is planned for embedding what his classmates have learned and for use at work.
