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AI is here. It is on college and university campuses. It is in the workplace. It is not going away.

There remains pockets of support for banning the use of AI on campus, often fed by misguided views that AI is a new weapon in the cheater’s arsenal. Very likely, that grim view is fed by fear that AI will change the world, including the classroom, in the process redefining work as we know it today. Undoubtedly, had this been the 1970s, many of those same opponents would likely have taken up a futile crusade against bringing the personal computer into the classroom.

Nevertheless, that is a poor excuse for vainly tilting at the windmills of AI. It is an even worse excuse to deprive students of knowledge about and access to AI. Instead, students should learn about what it can and cannot do, how it is evolving, what it means for their career and professional interests, and how to leverage it.

The final module covered in my BBA 204: Principles of Management course concerned information management. Part of that module was dedicated to AI. In that part of the module, students were introduced to what AI is, major AI fields and subfields, emerging issues concerning AI, some prominent AI programs (from AlphaZero, the widely publicized ChatGPT, and newly unveiled Gemini Ultra), how AI has evolved to reach human-level performance, and early labor market implications.

Students were also introduced to AI’s work in text (asking questions, commanding it to proofread and strengthen a written work, directing it to categorize open-ended questions into major themes), exposure to how AI is being tested in weather forecasting, and a demonstration of some of the image/artwork capabilities of AI.

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