When artificial intelligence (AI) enters the classroom, the main focus is usually at the chance of plagiarism or links.
In a postgraduate business evaluation course on digital innovations and strategy, which was taught in early 2025, we tried a special approach. The pupils were asked to deliberately use AI in every phase of the digital innovation process, to think in regards to the results and to evaluate where it really has added value.
Her feedback at the top of the course told a transparent story: the scholars modified from the angle of AI as a task robot with a view to consider them as a partner for innovation-they needed to be rigorously ruled.
That matches with Our recently published researchWhat determines that AI has no consciousness, but can act as a meaningful worker and may make additional contributions for teams.
A broader view of the AI
Many students began the course with an in depth perspective on AI and saw it either as a threat or as an instrument for basic automation.
In the top, most described it as a method to expand the human element and unlock latest forms, e.g. B. the availability of information -controlled knowledge to support the event of ideas. How a student put it:
My view has from “Will AI Jobs take over?” To “How can people and AI work together?”
These considerations come from a task through which the pupils documented their AI uses, criticism editions and associated this experience with strategic decisions.
Two pondering stood out:
1. From the tool to partner
The students worked on a case study for recruitment. They began examining AI as a straightforward tool for isolated tasks, e.g. B. a whole bunch of CVs on keywords.
They then saw it as a collaborative partner to ask basic questions: How can we discover the abilities that predict long -term success? How can we uncover hidden talent for unconventional backgrounds?
This partnership led to a deeper knowledge: The right strategic step was not only for a corporation a AI tool, but additionally to construct a brand new company through which the AI is an element of the product.
Her conversation shifted from the usage of AI to make the attitude faster and to develop a recruitment service, all the business model of which was a AI platform that corresponded to the culture of an organization with the potential of a candidate. We saw a narrow, tool -based way of pondering that was replaced by a more holistic and strategic perspective.
One student wrote:
Instead of considering AI as something, I now see it as a core design of the design.
2. From the blind trust to responsible use
The initial enthusiasm for AI also made critical habits. The students checked sources, discovered “AI hallucinations” and discussed compromises in privacy, bias and accountability. One student wrote:
I used to trust the AI results kind of blindly. Now I understand the necessity for credibility tests.
The students repeatedly expressed concerns about transparency, fairness and the absence of clear organizational guardrails on the workplace.
Some got here to the conclusion that the availability of AI is as necessary as what it will probably do. Instead of treating ethics as subsequent thoughts, it frames it as essential for the design: What intention has the appliance, which touches data, who was affected and the way decisions could possibly be explained.
How to search out out:
Responsible innovation requires deliberate decisions which can be guided by ethics and context -related awareness.
When some AI tools produced confident and yet inaccurate outputs, the scholars met first -hand. This friction promoted healthy skepticism and the habit of testing AI against domain knowledge and external evidence.
Their reflections showed a shift from the passive use to energetic evaluation and a way of pondering.
Many students said they desired to proceed constructing their skills and at the identical time maintain a critical eye and produce these lessons into family businesses and small corporations through which even modest AI tools can improve service and decision -making.
How a student put it:
I now see myself as knowledgeable who has to advertise a profession.
We imagine that this attitude is the actual results of the course: informed, responsible use. AI shouldn’t be just efficiency – it raises ethical questions and demands thoughtful government.
Why this is very important beyond the classroom
Jobs are exposed to 2 simultaneous realities today. AI can speed up routine work and likewise change the worth of how and the worth is created. The approach that we selected with the scholars who entered the workforce applies equally to organizations. Here are some suggestions:
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Anker AI with intention. Start with the result after which select tools and data accordingly.
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Treat ethics as a design, not as a compliance. Betting checks for presumption, privacy and origin inside the workflow. Be transparent about decision making when AI is involved.
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Invest within the language fights, not only in tools. Combating several systems created adaptable thinkers who knew after they should trust, confirm or rotate or deepen their digital competence.
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Measure the worth at business model level. Profits often come from latest sources of income or a reduced risk, not only from the stored time.

