Harvard Business School's generative AI policy allows use for preparation outside of class, but requires students to use what's in their head during and during exams.
Back in 1984, when personal computers were growing in popularity in both homes and businesses, Harvard Business School was one of the first B-schools to require PCs for some classes. Although students were not required to purchase the school's recommended IBM portable personal computers, his 787 of HBS's 800 freshmen arrived on campus with the devices. According to a 1986 Harvard Crimson article:.
“This move not only helped students prepare for the coming era, but also helped bring a wave of innovation in teaching and research to the school,” said Richard L. Menschel, professor and chair of management practice. Mitchell Weiss says.
“We felt we were experiencing a similar moment in the fall of 2023.”
that moment? The emergence of generative AI.
As part of an ongoing two-year project to review and strengthen the curriculum required for first-year students. harvard business school has been developing policies around generative AI and other tools since early 2023, shortly after ChatGPT was rolled out last fall.
HBS's policy roughly translates to: I use generative AI to prepare outside of class, but I use what's in my head during and during exams.
SBalancing your GEN AI policy
Mitchell Weiss, Harvard Business School: “During class, students are still expected to use only what was in their heads. Of course, as part of exercises and discussions about generative AI, faculty The number of sessions encouraging the use of tools in is increasing.”
ChatGPT was officially released to the public in November 2022. Open AI co-founder Elon delighted users with original rap lyrics, relationship advice, and jokes about his mask. I was in awe of the ability to write, debug, and explain computer code. Other generative AI tools quickly followed, including Bard, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion.
On the other hand, the capabilities of generative AI offer immense opportunities for innovation, creativity, and efficiency, not only in the classroom, but in the workplace, the laboratory, and all kinds of tasks in daily life.
But it also raises real and difficult questions about cheating and how to assess what students are actually learning versus what they're regurgitating from large language models.
Meanwhile, business schools are developing AI policies that balance protecting academic integrity while leveraging AI's innovative capabilities.
Shortly after ChatGPT was introduced, wharton school I left the guidelines for AI use up to the professor. Operations management professor Christian Tervis is famous for incorporating his ChatGPT into his final MBA exam. famous for chatbots passing through, decided to encourage generative AI for preparation and other tasks, but ban it for exams and graded homework. Operations management as a specialty is still a bit more of a basic skills certification, he said. P&Q at that time.
Another Wharton professor, Associate Professor Ethan Mollick, is an associate professor of business administration who teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. Publish your own AI policy This essentially required students to use this tool in class.
in Columbia Business Schoolinstructors typically write in the course syllabus and assignment instructions. Whether generative AI is allowed. If allowed, students should mention the platforms they used and how they used them. Use of generative AI tools without this permission is considered a violation of the CBS Honor Code.
and, Stanford Graduate School of Management Continues to General guidelines Set by the university's Office of Community Standards. Instructors can use AI tools as needed, but they should set clear expectations for their use in the syllabus while reinforcing that policy in their classes.
At HBS, we value the balance between use and trust.
Harvard Business School's policy can be simplified as follows. HBS uses generative AI to prepare for case discussions before class and invites students to reflect on what they learned after class.
“However, during class, students should still use only what was in their head,” Weiss says. P&Q. HBS also has policies regarding citation and disclosure of the use of generative AI primarily in written works.
“Of course, there are more sessions where teachers are encouraging the use of tools in the classroom as part of exercises and discussions about generative AI,” he says.
This policy is based on two principles. First, HBS wants her MBA students to become inventive, responsible, and flexible leaders in his AI era. Second, AI should augment and support her MBA experience and human judgment, not replace it. As technology and people's understanding of it evolve, HBS policies evolve over time.
“We believed, and continue to believe, that these tools will have a broad and profound impact on business and leadership. I wanted students to start discovering for themselves how they could make a positive difference in the world,' “Well,'' Weiss says. poets and quants.
HBS classroom AI tools
Weiss also serves as the practice chair. Required Curriculum (RC) Renewal Project, a two-year review of HBS's basic first-year course. (Similar efforts are underway in his sophomore elective curriculum at HBS.) Part of that process is staying current with the needs of future business leaders without following trends. It means considering how to do it.
Like PCs 40 years ago, generative AI is certainly not a fad, but a tool that will change the way we work. So while HBS strives to maintain balance in the classroom, in some cases he also requires the use of GenAI. In fact, the school provides all her first year students with her ChatGPT Plus/Advanced Data Analysis account.
“We felt this showed how important it is for students to become proficient across these tools. Specifically, we are using advanced data tools to help students become proficient in the field of data science management. I also felt that it was important to acquire skills,” says Weiss. “We also wanted to make these tools equitably available to our entire class of 900+ students.”
The school also provided student training in the use of tools to advance learning, drive thinking, and test knowledge.
“We know they could use the tools to interrupt their learning, but we also know they came to HBS to learn, so we use the tools instead. We showed how this can enhance learning.”
Do not miss it: Chat Points: How to use them in business school classrooms and How CHATGPT ranks the world's best MBA programs
