Preparing Students To Use Artificial Intelligence In Intelligent Ways

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Keywords: Artificial intelligence, written communication, leadership

Abstract: Students in a graduate management class were required to write a traditional leadership paper, and instructed that it was unacceptable to use AI in writing the paper. After the paper was submitted, students were given a follow up assignment where they were instructed to generate a similar paper, on the same leader, using AI. Students were asked to write a memo describing their process and reaction to the AI-generated paper, and complete a survey. For most this was their first serious interaction with an AI tool. Almost all found the process frustrating, but were surprised by the speed of generating a paper and the quality of information. Common concerns included that the paper “lacked a clear voice,” and “did not flow smoothly between the sections.” Several students noted outright factual errors, but most indicated that the content was technically correct while not fully capturing the ‘essence’ of the leader.