AI & Business Blog Series Part 2: Professor Fuad Farooqi

While AI has been around for a long time, it is really generative AI that has caught everyone’s attention given that it is within reach for any person with a computer and internet access. In my opinion, skills such as critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and adaptability will be valued by businesses. While AI excels at automating routine tasks and analyzing data, the uniquely human abilities to strategize, innovate, and build meaningful relationships will remain essential. Our business program is dedicated to cultivating these skills by offering courses that emphasize strategic thinking, problem-solving, and leadership. Although the AI space is rapidly evolving, we are gradually integrating AI literacy into our curriculum to ensure our students are prepared to collaborate with AI technologies effectively in their future careers.

Thinking of AI as competition is the wrong approach; if we change our lens and view it as a powerful tool that can augment human capabilities, it opens us up to many new possibilities that I am very excited about. Given how AI works, we can use it to handle repetitive tasks and analyze vast amounts of data quickly, something we are not necessarily as good at or at least are not as efficient at doing. Use of AI for such tasks will allow us to focus on strategic thinking, creativity, and building relationships. To give you an example, in health care AI is able to process medical images to detect anomalies faster than humans can as it is very good at identifying patterns. This can free up the physician to interpret these findings and create a care plan that is tailored to the patient’s personal situation. In finance, AI can identify market trends without involving any of the investment biases that most of us have.

Carnegie Mellon has been a leader in the use of data in making informed business decisions. We are building on this strength in our business program by teaching students how to leverage AI technologies effectively. We are integrating AI literacy into our curriculum with initiatives like the AI+Finance certification and emphasizing skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence that complement AI’s capabilities. This ensures our graduates are well-equipped to work alongside AI, maximizing both human and technological potential.