Why Business Schools Fail on AI Skills - Twitter Explodes

AI Skills: The New Shiny Object?

The AI Hype Train: Are Business Schools Overcorrecting? The latest GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey dropped, and the headline is clear: AI skills are in demand. Thirty-one percent of corporate recruiters now consider AI tool fluency a key hiring factor for business grads, a jump from 26% in 2024. That's a 6-percentage-point increase. Sounds significant, right? Well, let's dig a little deeper. First off, the survey polled over 1,100 corporate recruiters. That's a decent sample size, but it’s still a snapshot, not a census. More importantly, what *kind* of AI fluency are we talking about here? Are they expecting graduates to be building neural networks from scratch, or just knowing how to prompt ChatGPT? The devil, as always, is in the details, and those details are conspicuously absent from the press release. GMAC CEO Joy Jones claims employers' confidence in GME programs reflects graduates' ability to adapt and lead through uncertainty in hybrid workplaces reshaped by AI. It's a nice sentiment, but a bit too… pat. Feels like a canned quote designed to reassure nervous parents shelling out six figures for an MBA. And this is the part of the report that I find genuinely puzzling. While AI skills are getting a bump, "human skills" – problem-solving, communication, strategic thinking, adaptability – are still ranked as *more* important. Problem-solving remains at the top, although the percentage of employers ranking it as *the* most important skill dipped from 59% to 54%. Communication also saw a similar drop, from 57% to 51%. Adaptability and initiative are now *more* important than time/project management and interpersonal skills. (A sign, perhaps, that companies are tired of hand-holding?) So, employers want AI skills, but they *really* want graduates who can think critically and communicate effectively. It's like wanting a race car that also gets good gas mileage. Possible, but potentially a compromise on both fronts.

AI Mania or Enduring Skills? A Reality Check for B-Schools

Human Skills: Still the Kingmakers The report does note that these year-over-year changes in the importance of human skills are within the margin of error. Translation: don't panic. But the *narrative* is shifting. Business schools, predictably, are scrambling to integrate AI into their curricula. Wharton, American University, Arizona State – they're all jumping on the bandwagon, some even launching entire degrees dedicated to AI in business. But are they overcorrecting? Are they chasing the shiny new object at the expense of the fundamentals? GMAC's report itself states that employers value the skills that business schools developed in their students long *before* OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in 2022. (That's a parenthetical clarification, by the way, in case anyone forgot when the AI hype train really left the station.) The risk, as I see it, is that business schools churn out graduates who are fluent in the latest AI tools but lack the underlying business acumen to apply them effectively. It's like giving someone a scalpel without teaching them anatomy. They might be able to make a precise cut, but they won't know *where* to cut. What’s the long game here? Are we preparing students for a future where AI handles all the rote tasks, freeing up humans to focus on higher-level strategic thinking? Or are we creating a generation of AI-dependent workers who can't function without their digital crutches? And, perhaps more importantly, how will business schools adapt their teaching methods to truly integrate AI, rather than just tacking on a few AI-related courses? The Hype Exceeds the Reality (For Now) Look, AI is clearly important, and business schools are right to take it seriously. But the real value of a GME program isn't just about learning the latest tech. It's about developing the critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills that will allow graduates to navigate *any* technological disruption – AI, blockchain, quantum computing, whatever comes next. Focus too much on the tool, and you risk missing the bigger picture. The ability to think critically and strategically will always be more valuable than the ability to write a good AI prompt. And that's a data point worth remembering.