India’s leading business and tech schools explore coexistence with artificial intelligence

The potential of ChatGPT and its cousins is pushing India’s leading business and tech schools to draw up plans to deal with the disruption.

While some institutes are jittery about students using artificial intelligence-driven language programmes to put together assignments and projects, most look at it as the next innovation frontier that is impossible to ignore, top officials told ET.

Institutes are also looking to train teachers to stay ahead of the curve.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic settings is increasing, and with it, the potential for students to plagiarise work that has been generated by AI. Over the past months, ChatGPT managed to clear almost all exams, including an MBA module, it was administered.

Leading institutes say the option of ignoring the potential or challenge of AI does not exist.

Prof V Ramgopal Rao, group vice-chancellor for BITS Pilani and former director of IIT Delhi, said: “Everyone is conscious of the potential of ChatGPT – keeping it aside and banning it is not a solution. The baseline has shifted in every profession – if you are not using it, you will be at a loss.”

The sentiment is shared by institutes globally. “This technology is not going away…,” said Dr Rhonda Lenton, president & vice chancellor of York University, Canada.

“…so the only option is to figure out how you work with it. The technology is an incredible aid, but we will also educate students on its limitations, and how these tools are not intended to be used as a substitute for their own work, she said, adding, “We have started these conversations at the university.”

Academics such as Prof Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM Kozhikode, point out that the blitzkrieg of AI tools is accelerating, bringing with it a set of radical challenges. “It’s indeed tempting for students to innovate and use the technology to quickly generate ideas, outline a draft, and execute assignments with high-quality content that are well-argued and well-written. The bottomline that everyone in academics will agree upon is that it has to be treated as academic plagiarism… Finding a middle ground for the same upholding ethics, authenticity and the human touch is the academic re-work that we all must endeavour for.”