What Can Academia Learn from Business’s Embrace of AI?

“We’re not trying to be advocates of AI, but stewards over it.” – Michael Arena

The velocity of technological change has created a critical gap between the skills taught in higher education and the demands of the modern workplace. At a recent L.I.F.E. Teaching Conference, Michael Arena, Dean of the Crowell School of Business at Biola University, presented a robust case for reinventing business education in the age of artificial intelligence.

83% of companies view AI as a top strategic priority, yet only 10% of educators share this view [03:48]. This disconnect is compounded by the fact that the half-life of new skills is shrinking to roughly five years, meaning roughly half of what students learn will be obsolete by graduation [06:04]. The solution, according to Dean Arena, is to stop fearing AI, embrace it, and future-proof students with a foundation in enduring, human-centric skills and ethical discernment.

Biola’s strategy of “Future-Proofing in the Age of AI” shifts the educational focus to enduring skills that cannot be automated. These include:

• Innovative Leadership & Entrepreneurship
• Strategic Thinking
• Emotional Intelligence
• Relational Interactions
• Critical Analysis, and
• Ethical Reasoning [07:14]

To cultivate these, Biola has two experiential learning assets: the AI Interdisciplinary Lab and the AI Venture Studio [09:33], [13:00]. All initiatives are anchored in AI ethics based on biblical principles, emphasizing the maintenance of human dignity and stewardship [17:14].

Key Action Steps for Entrepreneurs:

1. Aggressively Prioritize AI Adoption: If you are not prioritizing AI, recognize that your business is falling behind the market in terms of efficiency and innovation velocity. Leverage AI to augment roles and solve high-level managerial or ethical challenges sooner [03:48].
2. Engage in Experiential Partnerships: Actively partner with university programs like the AI Venture Studio. By posing your real business challenges to student-led “AI squads,” you gain innovative solutions while mentoring the next generation of ethically-minded talent [13:31].

Key Action Steps for College Professors:

1. Prioritize “Enduring Skills” over Functionality: Restructure curriculum to emphasize skills like ethical reasoning, critical analysis, and relational intelligence. These are the unique human capacities that AI augmentation will make more, not less, valuable in the modern workplace [07:30].
2. Flip the Classroom to Embrace AI Now: Immediately integrate AI tools and platforms into assignments and projects, even inviting students to teach faculty. This closes the knowledge gap and prepares students to use AI for acceleration and augmentation, rather than just treating it as a cheating risk [10:14].

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