The Core Competencies of Future Leaders: Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence for Business Schools

The concept of artificial intelligence has existed since the 1950s and is commonly taken to be an amalgamation of diverse technologies working in unison to enable machines to sense, comprehend, act, and learn with a level of intelligence akin to that of humans (Accenture, What is artificial intelligence (AI) & why is it important? 2022). Recent years have witnessed increasingly rapid developments in AI technologies. Consequently, AI now plays an indispensable role in driving social progress and yielding transformative outcomes in many industries, including higher education (Duan et al., Journal of Industrial Integration and Management 15:201–206, 2019). This chapter critically explores the impact AI is already having on business schools, and implications for the future. It discusses how AI is transforming day-to-day operations in business schools, including in the practical management of core operations and business processes, and the core business of education. In doing so, it examines the transformational impact of AI on every aspect of teaching and learning, including the curation of knowledge, students’ interactions with resources and the ways in which learners demonstrate their mastery of the subject. The chapter also explores the specific implications AI has for leaders in the future, and what this means in terms of business schools’ flagship MBA (Master of Business Administration) programmes.