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ChatGPT, AI, and the Evolution of Education In the rapidly shifting landscape of technology and education, few individuals have their fingers as firmly on the pulse as Professor Sanjay Sarma. With a career spanning decades in academia and innovation, Professor Sanjay has watched the sunrise of AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, and traced their trajectories as they reshape our world.

As these technologies gain momentum, their influence seeps into every sector, not least of which is tertiary education. Professor Sanjay, with his extensive experience in Open Learning, is uniquely positioned to predict and interpret these tidal shifts. The critical question on everyone’s mind is, “To what extent will AI change education?”

About Professor Sanjay Sarma

Professor Sanjay Sarma’s journey in academia and technology has been nothing short of inspiring. This journey began at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, from where he received his bachelor’s degree. Further education at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Berkeley resulted in a master’s degree and a PhD, respectively. Armed with this solid academic foundation, Sanjay embarked on a career that would see him break boundaries and redefine norms.

He served as the Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, where he also co-founded the Auto-ID Center. His pioneering work led to the development of many key technologies that form the backbone of the EPC suite of RFID standards, now a staple in industries worldwide. Professor Sanjay also brought his innovative thinking to the entrepreneurial world, founding OATSystems and serving as its Chief Technology Officer before it was acquired by Checkpoint Systems in 2008.

His remarkable journey doesn’t stop there. He serves on the boards of GS1US, Hochschild Mining, and several start-up companies, including Top Flight Technologies, a testament to his wide-ranging influence across various sectors. He was recently appointed as the new CEO and Dean of The Asia School of Business (ASB) where he is set to navigate the waves of change that AI is bringing to tertiary education.

Professor Sanjay Sarma’s varied background, rich with achievements and practical experience, positions him uniquely to comment on the future of technology, particularly the role of AI in education. Professor Sanjay has been living and breathing AI before it became a buzzword, delving deep into its potential for years. As we navigate this new age, his insights become ever more relevant and pressing.

Professor Sanjay Sarma offers a unique perspective on how AI will shape tertiary education. Will it spell doom or deliverance for our future graduates? Let’s delve into this insightful interview.

How do you think AI will revolutionise the education system?

I think that AI’s influence on education can go in both good and bad directions. It’s not unusual to see many educational institutions express concern about how AI could potentially disrupt the education system – for instance, students may misuse it to write essays. Such concerns are valid but futile – it’s akin to shaking your fist at the clouds, demanding the rain to stop.

The imminent influence of AI on education will undoubtedly challenge educators, urging them to wield this new tool effectively to improve education. This won’t be a trivial task. I see two broad areas where AI will make a substantial impact.

Firstly, AI can serve as an excellent coach and a co-passenger on the journey of learning. This requires educators and institutions to identify ways to utilize AI as a mentor. This mentoring role of AI can extend to various areas, from helping write code to diagnose problems. Khan Academy has demonstrated how ChatGPT-4 can function as a tutor, assisting students in problem-solving.

The second area where AI will influence education is what I like to call “outperformance.” It’s like a tiger that’s always chasing us, pushing us to outrun it. The people and educational institutions that can surpass AI’s capabilities will enjoy significant success.

Despite its many strengths, AI can often be wrong. So, the essential skill becomes the ability to identify when AI errs. This is what outperformance entails – the people who can surpass AI’s abilities. Regardless of our sentiments, it will undoubtedly influence education. We cannot simply wish it away.

What’s your personal opinion on ChatGPT? And do you use it?

Yes, I do use it. It would be intellectually dishonest to say I don’t. However, the key lies in how I use it. ChatGPT is an extraordinary tool – it’s the first time we’re engaging with a system that can carry on a rather cogent conversation. Like humans, it’s not always correct, but it gets it right a significant amount of the time.

The surprise element of ChatGPT lies not just in its ability as a language model but also as a knowledge model. It made me realise how profoundly we are defined by our language, and how language encodes a lot of knowledge. It’s quite astounding and it changes the dynamics of things, even for tech giants like Google.

As for my usage, I employ it as a co-pilot, much like Microsoft’s portrayal. Just the other day, I was drafting my own bio. On a whim, I decided to use ChatGPT to assist. While I had to revise and correct some parts, the overall process became substantially quicker – it probably saved me about 15 minutes. So, I do see it as an assistant, but an assistant that can make mistakes. It’s crucial to remember that you still need to be in control.

The use of ChatGPT on assignments – Is it considered cheating? And how do you manage that?

Yes, if a student is asked to write an essay and they use ChatGPT, that would be considered cheating. But trying to prohibit this entirely is akin to telling someone to swim in a lake but not swallow any water. It’s nearly impossible.

The solution lies in designing assignments in a way that ChatGPT becomes a part of it and students have to work around it. For instance, you could have students generate an essay using ChatGPT and then critique it.

It is about embracing “outperformance.” We need to redesign our assignments accordingly. Just as we don’t check spellings any more thanks to the automatic spell-check in Word, we need to move a step beyond and learn to outrun ChatGPT.

Do you believe AI will help or hinder future graduates?

It will do both, in my opinion. It will help some while it may hinder others. Let me explain. For a lot of graduates who fall in the middle of the pack, AI might hurt them. There’s a risk that AI might take over their jobs, especially if their skills are common or easily replicable by machines. So, yes, for good writers, for instance, this could pose a problem.

However, individuals who possess extraordinary abilities, be it cognitive or physical, are likely to be least affected by AI. For now, robotics can do coarse motor skills but struggles with fine motor skills. It can drive a truck, but can’t, say, perform delicate stitching work or create nuanced art. Similarly, AI can do amazing things within its capabilities, but at the extremes of sophistication, it falls short.

So, for those who can outperform or perform tasks beyond AI’s capabilities, AI can serve as an excellent support system or an assistant. But for those whose tasks and skills fall within the sweet spot of AI’s capabilities, the technology can indeed be highly competitive and possibly disruptive.

What are some of the industries that will benefit the most from AI? And which ones do you think will see a major shift in the way they work?

Clearly, anything related to language is immediately impacted. Coding will also be significantly affected as AI can write remarkable code. However, even within coding, there will still be high-value jobs – the outperformers as I call them. Architect roles, for instance, will become more valuable, while those who write more basic code may see their jobs diminish.

Similarly, for someone who crafts the theme of a magazine or a story, their jobs will become more valuable, while routine tasks of writing based on prompts and facts might be automated. Someone still needs to edit the output and find errors. So, jobs that require outperformance will increase, while the standard ones will be impacted.

Look at the banking sector for an example. ATMs replaced the job of dispensing cash, but it led to an increase in the need for roles that give financial advice. In conclusion, I truly believe that education and learning are the oxygen of the new modern economy.

The Asia School of Business: Revolutionizing Learning

In the midst of this technology-driven evolution, the Asia School of Business (ASB) stands as a beacon of innovative education. Established by Bank Negara Malaysia and MIT Sloan School of Management, ASB is leading the way in management education, championing transformative and principled leaders through its award-winning Action Learning-based curriculum. With Professor Sanjay’s guidance as the new CEO and Dean, ASB is set to navigate the waves of change that AI is bringing to tertiary education.

Find out more about their MBA program.
Originally published by The Peak.

Image courtesy The Edge Malaysia

When it comes to retirement, it is first about setting your retirement goals. And then it is about coming up with a sound and prudent savings programme that helps you achieve those goals. In Malaysia, we are lucky to have a national social security savings system, also known as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), to help us save for retirement, so we can sleep soundly at night.

What should retirement be about? It should be about enabling you to continue with your economically and socially productive activities and lifestyle pursuits, be it for work or leisure. Since the proportion of time you allocate to each category will change from your working years to retirement, you have to be sure of three things on the financial front so you can freely pursue your goals and activities, and meet your consumption and healthcare expenses, even while in retirement:

That you receive a reasonable retirement payout every month.
The payouts should last for as long as you live.
It should preferably be indexed to the cost of living.

What could we do to help nudge our nation’s retirement savings path towards a more correct direction? Here are three basic proposals we suggest:

1. The default mode on retirement should be a version of the EPF periodical payment withdrawal scheme. This provides for a regular income stream during retirement instead of a lump sum withdrawal. The latest EPF 2021 annual report states that only 271 members are on this scheme. Down south, Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) has implemented such measures more than a decade ago with the introduction of the Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS) and later, the CPF LIFE scheme.

2. To help the B40 and M40 groups accumulate more retirement savings during their working years, the employer contribution portion needs to be increased for these groups. On the other hand, for the T20 (top 20% income group), the employer contribution amount can be capped at a certain income limit. This capped contribution to tax-advantaged retirement funds has been a feature in many countries including Singapore and the US.

3. Last but perhaps most important, form a “The Future of Malaysian Pensions Advisory Panel” comprising industry financial experts, finance academics, EPF, financially trained civil servants from the appropriate ministries and so on to review Malaysia’s pension and social security savings scheme. It can perhaps be chaired by the most knowledgeable person with reference to pensions from EPF (or co-chaired with a secretary-general from the Ministry of Finance). The panel should come up with recommendations that can be considered by the government and/or parliament for implementation. That’s what Singapore did in 2014 via its CPF Advisory Panel, where the panel made important, value-added changes to the CPF scheme, which were all implemented by 2016 (just two years later).

Given the dire state of inadequate EPF savings in Malaysia, with around 73% of members having too little savings by EPF’s definition, the need to set up some kind of Malaysian SuperFund to support a Basic Pension Scheme appears imminent to some experts — that is, a Basic Living Wage provision within the SuperFund that is means-tested and needs-based given that the well-to-do don’t need subsidies or government handouts.

Prof Geoffrey Williams suggested during the Policy Roundtable to use excesses from a Malaysian petroleum fund (creating one if it doesn’t exist). Just the way Norway funds its pension system via the Norges Bank (NBIM or the Government Pension Fund Global), which states, “The aim of the oil fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources, so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations.” This is something the Malaysian pensions advisory panel can perhaps take up as part of its deliberations.

In conclusion, these principles and ideas are presented here to hopefully ensure that Much Ado About Our EPF doesn’t turn into Much Ado About Nothing (of Shakespearean proportions)!

Joseph Cherian is practice professor of finance at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur and Cornell University (visiting) in New York. Ong Shien Jin is professor of practice at the Asia School of Business and an international faculty fellow at MIT Sloan.

Originally published by The Edge Malaysia.

ChatGPT is a real threat as a career disruptor and people must figure out how you can master GPT—or any other AI program—and use it as a tool rather than run from it, said Sanjay Sarma, CEO and president, Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur. Sarma, also the former vice-president for open learning at MIT, said learning is the new oxygen for the economy and companies need to give learning benefits to recruit good people.

“This is the age of agile continuous education, and the onus is on the individual to keep learning. The transcript does not end when you graduate. If you are not logging on and taking courses, you are logging out of your career,” Sarma said. Edited excerpts from an interaction with ET’s Saumya Bhattacharya Tested:

How are companies adjusting to the new shift in learning?

Companies need to give learning benefits to recruit good people. Employees must reskill and upskill. So, there is a lot of appetite for learning. The challenge is that there is loyalty to the old regime of degrees. Advanced companies are making the jump while traditional companies are still focused on the degree.I do believe in degrees. They give you foundation.

But the way it will happen is that credentials and skills will not replace degrees; they will complement them. As the change begins to happen at some companies, others will follow suit as they risk a paucity of talent. We need to start teaching students how to learn as much as what to learn. We do not tell people how to be chief learning officers of their lives.

How do you view rote learning in this context?

I will not dismiss rote learning completely. A little bit of memorisation is good. Consider multiplication tables—they help in our reasoning. We have created robots and are wondering why robots are taking our jobs from us. We must build creative thinkers.

The future belongs to the humanities: reasoning, logic, questioning, and thinking out of the box. We do not do enough of that. We teach what we can test but not what is needed. Memorisation is easy.

Is ChatGPT a career disruptor? What is your advice to the new generation entering the workforce?

It is a real threat. You have to figure out how you can master GPT—or any other AI program—and use it as a tool rather than run from it. How can you use it to make yourself superhuman, rather than wringing your hands? This is not the first time we have encountered something transformative.

Plato complained about writing—a new technology—arguing that it eroded the need for memory, which in his view was an essential component of the intellect. Yet many would argue that writing, when used as a tool, is the highest form of thinking. My advice is to figure out how to use it to your advantage.

Asia School of Business has just designed its MBA as a one-year programme instead of two. Why?

The opportunity cost of spending two years away from the workplace is too high in the context of digital disruption and advancements in the field of technology, especially artificial intelligence. I feel that the two-year MBA will survive in a few places like MIT. Hanging out in a candy store has its benefits. But in most places, it will go one year.

What factors will be the catalysts for life-long learning for working professionals?

Curiosity. The science is simple. Curiosity generates dopamine and facilitates learning. One has to be hungry to learn, and this is an acquired taste (and skill). Curiosity channelled towards becoming better at one’s job can help us outrun the technologies that are nipping at humans’ heels.

Originally published by The Economic Times.

Millennials and Gen Zs are increasingly becoming the main players in the economy. They are the future of our country, but these younger generations face challenges that have never been experienced before. On the education side, did you know that 390,000 out of 560,000 SPM candidates opted to join the workforce immediately after the exam, while the remaining 170,000 students were interested in continuing their studies?

This goes to show that the Malaysian education sector is taking a back seat. Instead, they are eager to earn money as fast as they can and as much as they can. With that in mind, Smart Investor spoke to Dr Sanjay Sarma, the new CEO, president, and dean of Asia School of Business (ASB), to get his insights on his plans at ASB and about the youths.

Dr Sanjay Sarma, CEO, president,and dean of Asia School of Business (ASB

Smart Investor: Congratulations on your appointment as the CEO, President, and Dean of the Asia School of Business. What makes you join this prestigious organization

Dr Sanjay Sarma: Thank you! Several reasons. First, the previous deans, the staff, and the students have built an amazing platform. Second, Malaysia is, in my view, a geopolitical epicenter, given everything happening in supply chains, sustainability, innovation, and energy systems.

Third, the Malaysian education sector will transform in the coming years for many reasons: the growth of online education, the growth of micro-credentials, the emergence of artificial intelligence, and the changes in how we work. With all this, ASB is a unique platform from across the world from which to embrace the future.

SI: What do you plan to achieve during your time here? And what are some of the ideas that you want to push through?

DSS: The points above set the direction. First, I want to double down on a central tenet of ASB: a pedagogy based on action, which we call action-learning. This pedagogy extends to how we deliver materials (we don’t deliver typical ‘lectures’), how classes become studios, and how we engage with the real world.

Second, ASEAN is a fascinating case study in progress with a diversity of all kinds. This includes cultural, economic, geopolitical, biological, and social forms — and our research-oriented faculty continue to deliver great insights on all fronts. I want to expand that.

Third, I would like to increase our focus on the education of working professionals. I believe that the Malaysian education sector cannot end with a degree. At MIT, we called it agile, continuous education. I would like to embrace that mantra — something the School has already made great strides in — and expand it greatly.

SI: How do you see Malaysia’s education compared to its peers in the region?

DSS: What can be done to improve the situation further? I am of the belief that the way we educate has to change quite fundamentally. The rise of tools such as ChatGPT means we need a new class of graduates who can outperform technology.

Education worldwide — Malaysia, China, India, and the US — is not prepared for these challenges. And it needs to evolve and evolve rapidly. We need problem solvers, critical thinkers, and doers to solve the problems we are leaving for the next generation.

SI: With AI gaining traction (ChatGPT as an example), it opens up many possibilities. Instead of asking Google, we can ask AI and get a comprehensive answer. What will this mean to the future of the Malaysian education sector?

DSS: Well, it vividly points out the pole star we should shoot for. What are the things that AI and robotics, and other technologies cannot do that we should be preparing our graduates for? Of course, if we prepare robots, we cannot lament the loss of jobs to robots.

But the human mind is boundless. We must break the curricula we have trapped ourselves in — often remnants of the colonial era — and create people who can provide the creativity, ethical frameworks, and inspiration to take on the rising inventory of challenges.

This might all seem like empty inspirational talk, but our students at ASB have convinced me that we have this potential. And at events we have hosted, such as the International Women’s Day and the Leadership for Enterprise Sustainability Asia (LESA) Conference, we saw precisely the sort of role models we could aspire for.

SI: How do you see the importance of education in today’s youth? Are they still interested in furthering their studies?

DSS: I have never met a young person disinterested in learning. Curiosity is the most fundamental aspect of learning and is impossible to extinguish. I have, however, met many people who are disaffected with how we teach. That’s a different matter; as I said earlier, we need to fix that urgently.

That was true before COVID, climate change concerns, and ChatGPT. It is even more urgent today. As mentioned, at ASB, we are all about action – and I believe classrooms need a more engaging, thought-provoking nature for the next generation to be prepared.

SI: What are the different ways of making money today compared to the ’90s and 2000s? Is higher education still necessary to be making a decent living these days?

DSS: The last century saw the growth of corporations — scale was achieved through size. Now we are seeing the rise of the gig economy. Moreover, more and more approaches to generating income are technology and innovation-driven. Just ask a taxi cab medallion owner from a decade ago who did not see Uber coming.

Subscription models are another trend — services are more and more subscription-driven, whether it is Amazon Prime or Netflix. Living and thriving in this world requires mental agility. Education — done right — is one way to ensure that. You can no longer assume you will be employed for life and live in a company town. You have to become the CEO of your own life. In many ways, the MBA is about that too. (Ergo, ASB).

SI: In your opinion, what’s the major concern on their minds? (unemployment, low salary, high cost of education, the high price of a property, etc)

DSS: All of the above, but we also see a much greater emphasis on social, and indeed planetary, good. I recommend reading about the Ubuntu philosophy: “I am because we are.” Young people are similar to young people a generation ago, with one key difference — a sense of the collective good.

SI: What are your thoughts on YOLO (you only live once) and the financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement that is hugely popular with the youths?

DSS: We live in an era of unicorns. That drives this partly. But unicorns are mythical creatures, and the valuations of some of these unicorns have been mythical too. How can a young person who lives in this era not be tempted? I don’t blame them, though I don’t recommend it. It’s no different from buying lottery tickets today; these young people must bet everything in that YOLO moment. It is up to educational professionals to draw them back into reason and away from betting their lives away.

SI: Are the youths of today more financially savvy? And where do they normally invest?

I don’t believe they are more or less than a generation ago. It’s just the opportunities are different. They live in a far stormier sea and are often likely to bet on extremes (swing for the fence, as Americans might say). Crypto is an example. Again, it comes down to educators to fix the Malaysian education sector so that our youth enter the next decade prepared to take on the challenges we are leaving them.

SI: Any advice to the youths out there facing the future?

DSS: Money chases intelligence, not impulsiveness, and luck sides the brave, not the reckless. Education can help you find the dividing lines.

We would like to wish Dr Sanjay Sarma and ASB all the best!

Originally published by SmartInvestor.

Sanjay Sarma, who became dean of the Asian School of Business in March, may well know more about digital learning than any other academic on the planet. He spent nine highly formative years from 2013 to 2022 leading MIT’s work on digital learning. It was Sarma who, in 2015, conceived of and then led the launch of the MicroMasters, a new credential for working professionals to pursue master’s-level courses online.

Nearly 2 million students have since enrolled in one of the five MicroMasters offered by MIT, and 5,000 learners have earned MIT MicroMasters. Sarma also began MIT Bootcamps, which offers blended learning experiences for entrepreneurs, and which has reached over 2,400 learners. “Digital is a certainty,” believes Sarma. “We should not see it as a replacement for in-person. We have to see it as an enhancement to in-person and for those who don’t have access to skills that are fast moving.”

While many business school deans may think this obvious, Sarma sees a serious challenge in how schools are moving forward with online learning. “What is missing is the strategy. Just throwing your hat into the ring doesn’t solve the problem. If you don’t have a strategy you are just another player among many.”

Read the full article HERE.
Originally published by Poets&Quants.

PETALING JAYA: The proposal by the Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) to raise the employers’ contribution rate to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to 20% from 13% to help raise retirement savings can be done gradually to take into consideration the question of affordability. With a more friendly ear in Putrajaya, on Labour Day the UNI-MLC proposed the contribution rate hike only for employees earning below RM4,000 a month, in addition to the recent changes made to the Employment Act 1955.

UNI-MLC president Datuk Mohamed Shafie B.P. Mammal told StarBiz the union called for the rate hike to help replenish and increase the retirement savings of low wage workers and not an across-the-board increase for all employees. “We are asking for a 7% rise for workers in the B40 category, as for someone earning RM2,000 a month, the increase won’t be very substantial. “We don’t want the employers to wash their hands of this problem and to think of this as doing CSR (corporate social responsibility),” he said.

He added that some big companies like Tenaga Nasional Bhd and local banks are already contributing above the mandatory 12%-13% to the retirement fund, but the bulk of smaller and medium-scale companies keep to the regulated minimum mandatory level. Left to fend for themselves during Covid-19, many workers depended on the various withdrawal schemes from the EPF to tie-up their finances but at the expense of depleting their savings, with some wanting to withdraw even more despite the economy moving into the endemic phase since last year.

While the need to bump up the savings of many contributors is not in question, how to approach it is key. Dr Joseph Cherian, the Practice Professor of Finance at Asia School of Business (in collaboration with MIT Sloan) said any proposed increase in the contribution rate could be shouldered by all the parties involved to get better buy-in. “I think a better way would be to decide how much more those in the lower EPF savings bracket should be able to contribute, and then to split the difference.

“One option is to split the 7% increase between the employer and the government or split it three ways, the employee chips in 1%, the other two 3% each. And so on…,” he said. UNI-MLC’s Mohamed Shafie said he would welcome such options that could benefit employees. The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) was, however, quick to state its objection to the call to increase the employers’ EPF contribution rate, especially during this current challenging economic period where the outlook is uncertain and global growth remains fragile.

Mandating all employers a higher contribution rate would be detrimental, especially for small and medium enterprises that make up 97% of businesses, it added. “The industry is of the view that the focus of the government at this point of time should be on short-term and immediate initiatives for workers to have more money in their pockets and to improve the purchasing power of the rakyat amid the continued price pressures that impact everyone.

“The government’s focus should be on keeping the cost and standard of living of the rakyat manageable as well as ensuring a positive economic growth trajectory, which would provide a conducive environment for businesses to increase their profits and improve their cashflow, which would then be able to support better wages and benefits for their employees,” FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said in a statement yesterday.

While the core issue is the low wage levels for many workers, employers say any move to bump up the contribution must be done after engagement with all parties and done gradually to ensure local companies remain cost competitive. “Retirement planning should be shouldered by the government and individuals with some help from the private sector. Here, we need to clearly understand what is the problem – which is wanting retirement money – and the options to solve it.

“The government must engage with the employers before making policy measures that will affect them,” Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Datuk Seri Wong Siew Hai told StarBiz. He said the government’s move to announce changes to the employment act and raise the minimum wage and electricity charges over the past year without giving time to prepare have added to the cost of the manufacturers, Wong said.

He added that any changes planned on this issue or others should be done after engaging with the employers. “The government must consider that the private sector must have two to three years to plan and respond to the changes planned. Any policy measures should also ensure local companies remain competitive globally,” he said. With the pushback from employers very likely, Dr Cherian said the government could consider a “Pillar 0” pension support scheme for those in need, which would have a basic living wage provision for retirees that is means-tested and needs-based, which is funded through a non-contributory pension scheme.

A “Pension 0 pillar” is said to be a general social assistance programme designed to specifically deal with the poverty alleviation. According to Investopedia, it is meant to provide the most basic social protection. “This isn’t a novel idea. Norway funds its basic pension system with its national oil receipts via Norges Bank (NBIM or the Government Pension Fund Global), which states, ‘The aim of the oil fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations,’” he said.

Those who qualify could avail themselves of the Cagamas reverse mortgage scheme, he added, although the caveat here is the national mortgage corporation’s reverse mortgage scheme will mostly help retirees who are cash-poor but asset-rich to supplement their income in retirement. “Tackling the low retirement savings is a very important issue if we go by some countries’ experiences. It could lead to poverty, acute health problems, social unrest etc,” he warned.

To top it off, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said EPF members need to be equipped with knowledge on financial literacy. This would include how inflation can affect their livelihood and how investment can help overcome this problem.

They need to understand how the interest rate is being set and this would mean they need to understand how Bank Negara decides the level of overnight policy rate. “They need to be able to differentiate between fixed rate and variable rate in the financing contract as well as their rights as a borrower. “By equipping themselves with such knowledge, they are able to make an informed decision,” he said.

Originally published by The Star.

The world of business is changing fast. The International Data Corporation predicts a major upheaval in both the “mechanics and social attitudes” of work in the next five years, a result of technological advancements and an increasingly globalised economy. It’s very likely that organisations will move to adopt immersive metaverse conferencing services, low-code tools to build applications, automated processes, and more.

They’ll need executives who can seamlessly adapt — a trait that’s largely gained out of hands-on, action-oriented work experience. Still, understanding the theoretical principles behind these is just as crucial. “Theory gives you translatable insights to look at something in one area, then translate it to another,” says Sanjay Sarma, former Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Vice President for Open Learning at MIT.

In this, sports offer an unlikely but useful revelation. “When I began lessons in tennis, I realised that my racquet preparation was wrong. My posture was incorrect,” he says. “So the fact of the matter is that theory gives you the mental model of how to look at things because you won’t know what you’re doing wrong until you’re taught to understand it.”

Sarma has been involved in some of the greatest innovations — both at MIT and beyond. At MIT, he oversaw OpenCourseWare and the creation of MITx, which brought a range of thought-provoking courses to a more accessible, online platform. He was a co-founder and CTO of OATSystems, a provider of software for RFID — which he helped develop at MIT — as well.

As the CEO, President and Dean of the Asia School of Business (ASB), Sarma is working on creating a one-year MBA Programme that strikes the ideal balance between theory and practice. It combines the pedagogy of the MIT Sloan School of Management with the expertise of the Central Bank of Malaysia, making for a business education that’s as distinctively globalised as it’s focused on the future.

As CEO, President and Dean of ASB, Sanjay Sarma is working on creating an innovative “post-GPT” MBA for the future-focused student. Source: Asia School of Business It’s a necessary strategy. “It became very clear to me about 15 to 20 years ago that the way we teach is not how people want to learn,” he explains. “Learning something in short bursts is not always effective — you have to practise it, discuss it, mend it and break it.

This is quite common in disciplines like engineering, but it turns out that the cognitive psychology of that is the same regardless of what you learn.” The ASB MBA focuses on Action Learning, giving students the chance to work on real, diverse and mission-driven projects in one of the fastest-growing regions in the world: Southeast Asia. Combining the mind, hand and heart grants students a more nuanced, more sophisticated understanding of how things work — a third of the ASB MBA curriculum is dedicated to this.

“Action Learning is a central tenet of the ASB MBA,” shares Sarma. “For example, you might learn the fundamentals of a large restaurant chain’s operations but fail to understand how it actually works. Why might a kitchen be slow to adapt if the menu changes? Why does procurement take a long time? How would you change the processes around this? Well, wouldn’t it be great if you could find out through first-hand exposure in a real restaurant setting?”

Students get real-world experience through Action Learning, where they work on diverse and mission-driven projects in the heart of Southeast Asia. Source: Asia School of Business Sarma submits that there’s another key differentiator to the ASB MBA, i.e. how it’s a “post-GPT” qualification. “Technology is going to have a profound impact on the planet,” he explains.

“We’re in the early stages of GPT, AI and language models, and we’re already seeing the effects of it on our work. The way you write code, create scenes, do art — everything’s changing very fast. We’re trying to create an MBA that responds to this.” To prepare for this, core modules immerse students in the Internet of Things, AI, biotechnology, blockchain, supply chain and more. Students learn from a cohort of thought leaders, combining the expertise of the MIT Sloan faculty with the regional knowledge of ASB staff.

It’s a rousing combination not found in the hallowed halls of Ivy Leagues. “There are more opportunities for social upliftment in Malaysia,” says Sarma. “For instance, Malaysia is a relatively rich country in Southeast Asia, but it has much more of an unorganised economy. You have the hawker sector, the gig economy — and so SDG issues are completely different. Then there’s the regional aspect of things, where you deal with the multiple cultures and religions, and different legal regimes that are put in place because of specific colonial paths.

It’s a wonderful petri dish that you won’t be exposed to if you’re in Cambridge.” Apart from learning from MIT Sloan staff – who regularly fly over to teach on the ASB campus — the MBA includes up to a three-week immersion in the MIT Sloan campus. Having spent 27 years at MIT, Sarma attests to the quality of teaching at the institution — and the transformative experiences that can come out of it.

“MIT is a pretty special place,” he says. “You’re exposed to the latest in technological and academic trends, all while learning alongside some of the brightest minds in the world. In my opinion, I do believe that any experience at MIT has a profound impact on your mindset.”

The best part? The combination of an ASB and MIT experience delivers both an outstanding education as well as equips students with a recognisable and reputable qualification, setting them up for seemingly endless possibilities. Some choose to continue their studies at MIT with a Master of Science in Management Studies (MSMS) or other Ivy League institutions. Others secure jobs with top companies on a global scale.

Either way, the ASB MBA plays a major role in elevating an individual from a student to an expert. “The point of an MBA is not that you have a business background — the point is that you’re prepared to do business,” affirms Sarma. “In a master’s programme, we take advantage of your experience both in life and work and help you utilise that to your advantage. It’s up to you to decide from there.”

Originally published by Study International.

When your partner is going through a stressful time at work, it’s common for you to be affected by it, too (and vice versa). Sometimes it can even feel as intense as if you were experiencing it firsthand. That experience is called crossover workplace stress (or trauma)—a term that researchers use to describe how work stress gets passed from one partner to another. There are three ways someone’s workplace stress can impact their partner: through direct crossover, indirect crossover, and common stressors.

Direct Crossover. If you’re feeling your partner’s stress as if it were your own, you’re likely experiencing what scientists call direct crossover. “It’s when a partner is highly empathetic and puts themselves into the same shoes as their significant others,” says organizational psychologist Yi-Ren Wang, PhD, who recently authored a research study on crossover stress. You feel as if you’ve experienced the stressful event yourself, even though you haven’t.

Indirect Crossover. You can experience indirect crossover stress when tension in the relationship arises because of how your partner copes with their workplace stress, and it impacts the quality of your relationship. For example, if your partner is experiencing a really stressful time at work, they can become avoidant—not wanting to talk about whatever is happening. Because they aren’t communicating, you might begin to think that their source of stress is you or the relationship, which affects the connection between the two of you.

Common Stressors. Your partner’s workplace can also create common (or general) stressors that impact you and the entire household. “For example, maybe the lack of opportunity to get a promotion at work can negatively affect my spouse, and at the same time that affects the level of financial security that the entire family experiences,” Wang says.

5 WAYS TO MANAGE CROSSOVER STRESS

Whichever way your partner’s workplace stress is affecting you, it can lead to a high level of psychological distress, says Nina Westbrook, a licensed marriage and family therapist. “Each partner then loses the ability to support the other, and they become emotionally depleted and unable to reasonably and effectively navigate within the relationship,” says Westbrook.

Before it reaches that point, she suggests that you and your partner consider five things.

Create healthy boundaries. It’s important to support your significant other’s emotional needs—that’s part of having a compassionate relationship—but taking on their stress isn’t very effective. “We feel like we’re helping, but in turn we’re kind of emptying our cup while our partner is emptying their cup, and then there’s no one left to fill the cups back up because you’re both now drained and emotionally depleted.” Setting boundaries allows each of you to create ways to manage your own stress and helps you both move through stressful times better.
Communicate. If you’re experiencing stress at work, communicate this to your partner. “This way, your partner is aware of the circumstances and in turn can more likely have patience and understanding as you work through the overly stressful time,” says Westbrook. And they’re less likely to attribute the stress to the relationship itself.
Be considerate. Being aware of how much stress you’re feeling and how much of that you’re unloading on your partner is important. “You can start by asking your partner what their capacity is to listen prior to sharing,” says Westbrook. That can sound a little bit like, “I’m experiencing a lot of stress at work. Is this a good time for you to talk about it?”
Get support. “One person cannot provide all of our emotional, social, romantic, intimate, and psychological needs. That’s a lot to ask,” says Westbrook. Talking to other people—a trusted colleague, a friend, or a therapist—about your workplace stress can alleviate some of the load that your partner takes on.
Have a plan. If you know a stressful time is approaching in one (or both) of your professional lives, plan for it. You could schedule downtime each day (either alone or together), do stress-reducing meditations, or, if you have kids, plan for them to visit with their grandparents on weekends to help free up your mental space. Whatever it looks like for you, making adjustments can help reduce stress for you and your partner.

Originally published by Goop.

“I think ASB is pretty magical. To bring MIT Sloan and the best qualities of a Western business school and a leading Asian school together within one MBA is really marvellous.” Sanjay Sarma – President, CEO and Dean of Asia School of Business (ASB) “One of the most creative thinkers I know.” The words of Rafael Reif, President of MIT for ten years until December 2022 described Sanjay Sarma, who for nearly a decade had run MIT’s digital learning platforms and education initiatives.

He continued, “For all he has done for our community, for his indelible mark on open learning, locally and globally, and for his continued commitment to inventing the future of education, I express to him my deep gratitude and admiration.” Sanjay Sarma, the incoming President, CEO and Dean of Asia School of Business (ASB), based in Kuala Lumpur has what he describes as an unconventional background.

“I’m a professor of engineering, I was vice president of MIT for open learning, I’m a businessman, I’m an author, and I’m a father .” Disarmingly modest and thoughtful, Sarma doesn’t elaborate on the extent of his achievements. But under his watch at MIT, he conceived and then led the launch of the MicroMasters, a new type of credential that allows working professionals to pursue master’s-level courses online.

Nearly 2 million students have enrolled, and 5,000 learners have earned MIT MicroMasters credentials. The programs have been adopted by over 25 universities worldwide, with over 50 programs offered. He also began entrepreneurship courses and bootcamps attended by hundreds of entrepreneurs, a content library to help professionals keep pace with the latest advances in technology, digital academic credentials, and led the creation of MITx Online, which hosts many of MIT’s online courses and has reached close to 10 million registrations.

With a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious IIT, followed by a Masters from Carnegie Mellon and his PhD from UC Berkeley, Sanjay Sarma initially worked in industry, and during his award-winning teaching career he has been involved in an IPO, developed key technologies behind Radio Frequency standards, and sits on the board of numerous companies.

In his books, Sarma has explored the structural, pedagogical and technological approaches to rethink our approach to learning and education, and understand methods that lead to the most meaningful and lasting impact “It’s been quite a journey,” he quietly concludes. So where next for such an accomplished and unassuming creative thinker? Taking on the leadership of Asia School of Business made perfect sense.

The school was founded in collaboration with MIT Sloan and the Central Bank of Malaysia. Students benefit from a teaching approach that Poets&Quants describes as “experiential learning on steroids.” MIT Sloan’s world-renowned faculty teach 50% of the one-year MBA curriculum in the vibrant cultural melting pot of Malaysia alongside ASB faculty, and students spend up to 3-weeks immersion at MIT Sloan in Cambridge, MA.

These courses are some of the most sought-after at MIT, covering subjects from Bill Aulet’s 24-step program in Disciplined Entrepreneurship to Nelson Repenning’s unique System Dynamics framework. Upon completion of the ASB MBA program, students will earn an MIT Sloan Certificate of Completion, receive affiliate MIT Sloan alumni status.

They can extend their learning opportunities by applying to study at MIT in the Visiting Fellows Program or apply to enroll in the nine-month STEM-designated MS in Management Studies from MIT Sloan, providing international students with work authorization in the U.S. for up to three years. At less than $35,000 in tuition fees for an intensive 12-month MBA program, you’re getting an M7 experience with outstanding ROI.

And Sanjay Sarma has hit the ground running, drawing on his experience to create what he describes as the post-GPT MBA. “We are living in strange times” he notes. Acknowledging that education as we know it has changed drastically in recent years, not just through the pandemic but also in terms of AI and how fast technology is developing. He believes that the MBA and education itself need to adapt and move with the times.

“For students to really get the most out of their[-]MBA education, the classroom should be flipped. The classroom is becoming a studio.” Sanjay Sarma – CEO, President and Dean Asia School of Business (ASB) “In a post-GPT world, the software and automated systems are capable of doing pretty damn well. It is human instinct that remains special.” He explains that classroom learning needs to be revolutionized.

He believes that lectures in their current format are no longer the best way for students to learn. “Even the word lecture has a negative connotation”, he says. “Does anyone else recall being ‘lectured’ as a child?” The ten years running MIT’s digital learning platforms is front of mind, with a strong emphasis on action learning that is a hallmark at the Sloan School of Management. “For students to really get the most out of their MBA education, the classroom should be flipped.”

“The term is embodied cognition, where your intuition aligns with your learning as opposed to having to second guess your instincts all the time.” ASB plans to deploy video and AI to reinforce the deep learning, and using the MBA classroom time to then discuss what they are learning. “It is more than just reciting information learned off by heart, the classroom is becoming a studio.”

The ASB approach to learning draws from MIT’s motto (mind and hand), and heavily focuses on classroom rigor combined with onsite Action Learning experiences throughout Asia. Sarma insists that in order for business schools and MBAs to remain strong, they should direct their focus to research and thought leadership. “At ASB we are fortunate to have excellent researchers in areas such as finance, social science, economics, political economy, supply chain and more, and therefore we have wonderful thought leadership going on in our community.”

“We have to teach with the workplace in mind,” he explains, “and ensure that MBA students have a great depth of knowledge not only in theory, but in the practical elements of their work too, so they can hit the ground running.” The MBA has been identified as one of the hottest in Asia, and the innovative approach to learning is one of the many reasons why.

Sanjay notes that their attitude towards learning is to see innovation and entrepreneurship as a form of thinking. It is consistent with his belief that an individual needs to become the CEO of ones life. “You need to have a vision for your life, and plan accordingly. In the absence of that, decisions become triply hard. The Financial Times identified South East Asia as offering the highest % salary increase for MBAs, so the decision to study at ASB in the world’s fastest-growing region by GDP, with a wealth of post-MBA career opportunities is compelling.”

Students can extend their stay at ASB for up to 4 months as a Scholar / Entrepreneur-in-Residence, and the school will provide office space for their entrepreneurial venture in the ASBeehive, or provide them with the opportunity to work with a professor in one of our research centers. With this mindset, the sky truly is the limit for ASB and their students alike.

Sarma describes the ties with MIT Sloan like, “having their cake but eating it too”. He explains that he wants to bring the two cultures together – the differing perspectives from the South East Asian and Western perspectives, combining them to provide students with an in-depth level of entrepreneurial learning in Asia’s dynamic business environment. “Malaysia is the perfect gateway to Asia and beyond.

It is a cultural melting pot which includes three of Asia’s oldest civilizations, in the heart of South East Asia and its population of over 600 million. Kuala Lumpur is a dynamic economic hub in the region, and serves as the ideal hub for our students to experience Asia through our Action Learning projects.”

The FT identified SE Asia as offering the highest[-]% salary increase for MBAs, so the decision to study at ASB in the world’s fastest-growing region by GDP, with a wealth of post-MBA career opportunities is compelling.” Sanjay Sarma – President, CEO and Dean of Asia School of Business (ASB) In an unlikely comparison, he relates the partnership to apps that are used in Malaysia to order a taxi.

The app will translate the driver’s text in their language to the first language of the passenger when they are messaging to arrange a pickup, making it a much easier experience for all involved. He compares this to the blend of teaching from MIT Sloan and ASB, saying that a nuance it is to have technology adapting to everyone, and being understanding of the needs of each individual.

“I think it can be pretty magical. We have teachers here who will look at each perspective. This idea that the best qualities of a Western school and an Asian school could be brought together within one MBA is really marvellous. Students get to experience life in ASB’s home, Kuala Lumpur, for most of their MBA, with the last three weeks taking place in MIT. This opens them up to new cultures and experiences, and a wide variety of new people to get to know.”

The one-year format is proving popular. In the Graduate Management Admission Council’s annual Prospective Students Survey, a majority of business school candidates said that they prefer one-year MBA programs over the two-year options more popular in the U.S. “The price of the Asia Business School MBA is far less than that of the other leading programs in Asia, coming in at $35k, and the return on investment is substantial.

But we are not sacrificing the quality of the experience. – we are getting as much information across to students as humanly possible.” With the timeline and attractive tuition, Sanjay Sarma likens the experience to getting 50lbs into a 15lb bag. “Between the hands-on knowledge, the networking and career opportunities, and the potential opportunity to study somewhere new, the MBA at ASB is a quantum leap opportunity worth grabbing with both hands.”

Originally published by Forbes.

Students should worry less about ChatGPT taking their jobs (at least today), and more about somebody who knows how to use it taking their job!” Phanish Puranam, Professor of Strategy at INSEAD (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images) The wheel. Gunpowder. The printing press. Penicillin. The light bulb. The washing machine. The Dynasphere. British humour. A few among many inventions and technological advances that have transformed the world.

And for decades Artificial Intelligence has been making advances, with a growing impact on manufacturing, healthcare, finance, agriculture and retail. And Alexa makes sure you won’t forget your sister’s birthday. But with the launch of ChatGPT3 just a few months ago, and the accompanying frenzy – euphoria from some, hand-wringing from many others – AI has suddenly become the hot topic of the year. And each update is likely to add to the mix of eagerness and despair.

Is it a game changer? Almost certainly. So was the development of a personal computer with graphical user interface and networking at Xerox, but the company’s executives famously couldn’t see what they had under their noses at the Palo Alto Research Center. But with Bill Gates describing AI as the biggest thing this decade, and Elon Musk pushing for a 6-month pause on AI development, everyone is paying attention even if we fully understand what comes next.

Private investment in AI is skyrocketing, while Goldman Sachs estimates that up to 300 million jobs could be lost or diminished due to AI. So how are business schools reacting in the face of such potentially sweeping change? At the beginning of 2022, when the world’s leading business school minds were asked to contemplate how AI might impact upon education, the biggest evolutions they could imagine were in VR and augmented reality.

The focus was on inclusion, creating virtual campuses and immersive learning experience for a global cohort of students still grappling with the aftermath of the pandemic. The AACSB’s annual Business Trends Report highlighted the industry-leading investments of prominent schools such Berkeley Haas, Texas A&M Mays, and INSEAD in virtual and hybrid classrooms, predicting that the market for AI in education would reach 25.7 billion USD by 2030.

Key AI tools included utilizing chatbots, simulations, and even the metaverse to design highly-personalised, flexible learning experiences – making faculty available to students seemingly 24/7 through technologically-savvy support systems. Attentions were placed primarily on what AI could so for us, rather than what it might end up doing to us. For all of the industry’s forecasting, few predicted the mind-bending possibilities and challenges that came with the launch of Chat GPT in November.

Within a few short months, AI tools have evolved beyond defeating human chess champions to entities which can not only ace the GMAT, but can also pass Wharton MBA exams. For Sanjay Sarma, who for nine years lead MIT’s work on digital learning as Vice President for open learning, the post-GPT world has the potential “to make individuals superhuman, but much like the domestication of the horse it is all about those that learn to ride.”

“We’re using video and AI to reinforce the embedded learning, and using the classroom time to then discuss what they are learning. The MBA classroom is becoming a studio.” Sanjay Sharma – incoming CEO, President and Dean at Asia School of Business. Sarma is the incoming CEO, President and Dean of the Asia School of Business, founded in Kuala Lumpur nearly a decade ago in a partnership between MIT Sloan School of Management and the Central Bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia.

Responsible for courses at MIT that have been followed by millions, Sarma is already focused on ensuring that the MBA program at ASB prepares students for a post-GPT world. Sanjay states that we must utilize the technology we have. Using videos and AI to reinforce the embedded learning, and using the classroom time to then discuss what they are learning. It is more than just reciting learned-off information, far more than that.

“In a post-GPT world, the system is capable of doing well. It is human instinct that remains. So classroom learning needs to be revolutionizsed.” He believes that lectures in their current format are no longer the best way for students to learn. “Even the word lecture has a negative connotation”, he says. “Does anyone else recall being ‘lectured’ as a child?”

“The term is embodied cognition, where your instinct aligns with your learning as opposed to having to second guess your instinct all the time.” And ASB features MIT Sloan’s action learning pedagogy, with the belief that effective learning should have the combination of mind, hand and heart. “We’re using video and AI to reinforce the embedded learning, and using the classroom time to then discuss what they are learning. It is more than just reciting information learned off by heart, the classroom is becoming a studio.”

With AI, business schools now face a greater challenge, not only in evolving educational offerings to keep pace with modern industry demands but in reshaping the very nature of how they operate. For Dr Reza Etemad-sajadi at EHL Hospitality Business School in Switzerland, the focus should be on finding solutions. “It would be a mistake to see it as a threat and, regardless, we have no choice. We will have to adapt to this kind of technology in the future,” he says.

“Curricula and programs must be ready to adapt to the ways in which various professions evolve over time because AI will transform the skills that recruiters will be looking for in the future.” Dr Reza Etemad-sajadi – EHL Hospitality Business School. And there is potential in abundance for those who dare to look. “Instead of focusing on how to cope with the challenges of ChatGPT, educators need to explore how to best leverage ChatGPT and other AI models to help students achieve their full potential,” says Dr Na Fu at Ireland’s Trinity Business School.

“ChatGPT presents an opportunity to transform the way business schools teach and educate current and future business leaders.” This sense of reactiveness is echoed by Antonio Rodríguez Engelmann – Managing Director at GBSB Global Business School. “Chat GPT is challenging the way we should approach education from two different angles.

The first one is related to the way we as educators leverage ChatGPT opportunities to define new educational resources, new educational support services, new teaching methodologies like project-based learning, new academic integrity assurance models, and new student assignment frameworks,” he says. “The second challenge is related to how business schools update their program portfolios to educate students within this new wave of disruptive innovation.”

And with new educational design comes greater opportunity for a new, more diverse generation of aspiring business leaders, levelling the playing field. “ChatGPT is enabling people to interact with machines in a more natural and conversational manner. This is helping them to access information which was earlier limited to only skilled information seekers,” says Professor Gaurav Gupta – Associate Professor at NEOMA Business School.

“For example, it has allowed people with limited language and browsing skills to seek and find exotic information.” Not only is a wider array of information available, but ever-smarter AI is enabling students to begin querying what they find. “In classrooms, it has started to become an indispensable tool for students, allowing them to often challenge as well as cooperatively learn from this text companion along with the teacher,” he continues.

With such educational revolution comes a sense of responsibility. “By embracing ChatGPT and other AI models as a valuable tool for learning and innovation, business schools have an opportunity to ensure students stay at the forefront of the rapidly evolving technological landscape,” affirms Trinity’s Dr Na Fu. Etemad-sajadi at EHL agrees.

“Curricula and programs must be ready to adapt to the ways in which various professions evolve over time because AI will transform the skills that recruiters will be looking for in the future,” he says. Unsurprisingly, Fu and Etemad-sajadi are not alone in their way of thinking. “Students must continue to develop their expected competencies,” says Rodríguez Engelmann. “Once they enter the workforce, they need to be valued because of their new competencies to solve complex problems, not just for what they know.”

“By embracing ChatGPT and other AI models as a valuable tool for learning and innovation, business schools have an opportunity to ensure students stay at the forefront of the rapidly evolving technological landscape,” Dr Na Fu.Pic, Trinity Business School [Paul Sharp/SHARPPIX] And responsibility extends beyond a duty to keep skills development up-to-date.

“As an AI model, ChatGPT is constantly evolving and its potential impact on society is still unknown,” says Fu. “It is important to use these tools ethically and responsibly, and to recognize that it is ultimately up to humans to determine how AI is used. By using AI tools in responsible and innovative ways, we can maximize its positive impact and mitigate its potential negative consequences.”

The way forward, according to Phanish Puranam, Professor of Strategy and the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Strategy and Organisation Design at INSEAD, lies in effective collaboration, noting the potential for new AI to boost our capabilities, despite the many ways in which it is beginning to encroach on what were, perhaps until now, exclusively human qualities.

“Now, generative AI is demonstrating that it can pass the Turing test for creativity in practice as well. This means it will be increasingly harder to distinguish human generated from machine-generated creative content-which, in turn will raise the bar for human creativity,” he suggests. “The “hacks” in any creative field are undoubtedly in trouble, but some users will amplify their creativity.

Such amplification may already be underway. Thomas Gauthier, Professor or Strategy and Organisation at emlyon business school, sees a future in which business schools can encourage students to use the significant advancements in AI to better themselves. “On May 11th, 1997, Garry Kasparov became the first human World Chess Champion to lose to an AI – IBM’s Deep Blue. Did Kasparov quit playing chess? He didn’t.”

“One year later, he convened and participated in the world’s first “Centaur Chess” game,”Gauthier recounts, “in which a human player and an AI teamed up. Business school students, and faculty members, may well turn into Centaurs too. Not raging against the machine, but rather collaborating with it to engage in unprecedented learning experiences.”

But, as always, there are cautions to be raised. “At the same time, developing a dependence on these technologies before building one’s own creative thinking muscles can stunt development,” warns INSEAD’s Puranam. Not only are students at risk here, but institutions too.

“ChatGPT has finally pushed the point home to my students that they need to be on top of developments in AI – this is not a choice.” Phanish Puraman, Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. “In particular, the potential impact of ChatGPT being misused by students could have serious consequences on the reputation of business schools whose graduates that bring less than expected value to a hiring organisation than commensurate with the standing of the school,” warns Russell Miller, Director of Learning Solutions at Imperial College Business School.

Gupta agrees, “On the other hand, the aim of such chatbots to provide the “one right answer for each question“ will curtail divisive and outlying ideas and beliefs. Its overt attempts to serve information that is palatable to the greatest common denominator of its clientele will tend to curtain abnormal and alternative expressions. Imparting education that provokes curiosity and dissonance will become more difficult.”

But here, such vulnerabilities and a pursuit for accuracy might, conversely bring things full circle. “Paradoxically, this would be a chance to return to the ‘moment of truth’, i.e., face-to-face contact between the professor and the student,” Dr Reza Etemad-sajadi says. “After focusing on digitalization for the past 20 years, this would be a return to the past where socialization becomes even more important. Old fashioned paper and oral exams might make a comeback, which could be a good thing.”

But forewarned is forearmed. Whilst institutions grapple with how to tell the human from the machine, and prevent students from cutting corners, Imperial’s Russell Miller suggests that, in some ways, we’ve been here before, and there are lessons we can learn from the past. “It seems to me that the challenge is not dissimilar to that of the late 90s when the internet was beginning to get mainstream traction,” he says.

“Back then, as now, business schools were wrestling with issues of what the technology would mean in terms of plagiarism and other considerations (arguably) linked to a perceived loss of control. The answer to the question is both help and hinder, and it’s the human element in all of this that will determine whether Chat GPT and similar will be a force for good in the education world.”

“The good news,” he continues, “is that by and large society has proven very good at adopting disruptive technologies.” Puranam, like Miller, offers a reassuring ray of optimism. “I am not worried about cheating in exams or stunting thinking skills- those are easy problems to fix if we put any thought into it,” he says. “As faculty, we have been trying various means to make our students savvy about AI, machine learning, and programming.

ChatGPT has finally pushed the point home to my students that they need to be on top of developments in AI – this is not a choice. As I tell my students, they should worry less about ChatGPT taking their jobs (at least today), and more about somebody who knows how to use it taking their job!” Such sentiment may ring true for educators as well. Those institutions which fail to harness the power of ChatGPT might well find themselves at a sudden, and significant disadvantage. The genie can’t be put back in the bottle.