The buzz is everywhere: AI is opening doors to an entirely new reality. Have we truly embraced it yet? Can we grasp just how quickly it will reshape our lives? And what about the rise of robots… are we ready for that, too?
Imagine a world where AI in business schools offers tailored learning experiences, transforming education into a highly personalized journey. Conversely, a darker scenario could lead to rigid, data-driven systems that undermine creativity and human connection.
Artificial Intelligence has forced us all to face an uncertain future. On one side, we see the gleaming possibilities of a far-advanced world with everything at our fingertips. On the other, we feel the looming fear of an automated, altered society that doesn’t quite need humans anymore.
UNEXPECTED BENEFITS
Berkeley Haas has adapted with the introduction of AI. With education being one of the core areas of AI impact, it is integral for universities to embrace the reality of Artificial Intelligence. Critically, it should help students to enhance their learning process and advance their skill sets for an upended status quo. In Berkeley Haas classes, there have been a variety of rules implemented surrounding the use of AI. Some Professors don’t allow students to use AI for any assignments, while others allow usage but require proper citation. Regardless of such limitations, AI has proven to be especially beneficial in the process of learning for Haas students. The key benefit has been an increase in efficiency.
Just the other week, I used AI to expedite my learning process to study for a Finance class midterm. My preparation resources covered concepts like “weighted average cost of capital” that were broadly visualized on a PowerPoint slide. After uploading a photo of this slide, I asked ChatGPT to break down the WACC formula step-by-step and explain how each component—from equity cost to tax rates—impacts a company’s value. This boosted my retention of information, and created clarity for numbers that seemed confusing at first.
Courtyard at Haas School of Business, where Ayushi Bhardwaj will be a senior next fall
FOUR WAYS TO APPLY CHATGPT 4.0
That’s just one of the ways that AI can make students more effective. Here is a list of AI Application Use Cases you can implement today, with ChatGPT 4.0:
1. Simplify Difficult Concepts: Use ChatGPT 4.0 to create helpful connections between disparate concepts to add depth to otherwise flat textbook descriptions. For example, if you want to understand “opportunity cost” in Economics, you can prompt GPT to give relevant analogies that tie into daily life. Upon this, GPT will provide an example as follows: “Imagine you have two invites for Friday night—a concert and a movie with friends. Choosing one means giving up the other, and that missed experience is your opportunity cost.”
2. Personalized GPT Bots: Feed ChatGPT 4.0 problems and answers from previous exams in a particular class, and ask it to explain relevant concepts to you step-by-step. Then, have it generate new questions based on existing content to thoroughly test your understanding. You can use ChatGPT 4.0 to create a study buddy for biology class by uploading past exam questions and answers. It can explain concepts like “cellular respiration,” explaining how glucose becomes ATP. Then, it will test with fresh questions: “What happens if there’s no oxygen?” This will elevate your preparation to an interactive exercise.
3. Essay Refinement: Ask ChatGPT 4.0 to edit and refine your essays, improving the flow, grammar, and overall cohesion. Here is a classic example of AI augmentation. A couple days ago, I had to write an essay on ethics in Business. My draft was filled with ideas but felt scattered and clunky. I asked ChatGPT to help me refine it, and it quickly identified areas where I could consolidate points. For instance, it suggested combining two sections on corporate responsibility and stakeholder impact, which made my argument stronger and more cohesive.
4. Daily Life Ideation: AI is a wonderful tool to inspire creativity. For example, if there is a theme for a club social, you can ask GPT for costume ideas. I asked ChatGPT for inspiration, and it came up with everything from a spooky “haunted librarian” with vintage books and cobwebs to a “retro sci-fi alien” in metallic colors and antennae.
While ChatGPT excels at in-depth explanations and creative problem-solving, Perplexity AI brings a unique edge by offering real-time, concise answers and reliable information sourced directly from the web.
RESEARCH WITH PERPLEXITY
Perplexity feels like a search engine on steroids. It has incredible research potential, and can pull helpful resources from the web to build plans, extract important information, and compile data. Some students feel that it can provide utility near the level of Google.
For example, if you’re researching climate change for a class project, Perplexity can pull together the latest studies, news articles, and government reports on the topic. When I asked it for data on carbon emissions trends, it provided links to reputable sources like the EPA and NASA, summarizing key statistics and recent policy updates.
PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Despite all of these benefits, Haas students also experience problems with AI in education. For one, it is relatively incompetent at high-level math concepts and can produce severely incorrect answers. A student recently shared that when they asked Perplexity to solve a multi-step calculus problem involving integration by parts, the answer was not only incorrect but also included several errors in the steps, leading to a completely wrong final result.
On the macro level, some students fear their basic reasoning and creativity skills will diminish by using AI. Research finds that as AI takes over, jobs that involve creativity and social skills will be the most secure. It has also shown that as AI automates routine tasks, roles emphasizing creativity and social skills—such as marketing strategists, product designers, and therapists—will be most resilient.
Artificial Intelligence is an exciting yet uncertain introduction to society. As for now, we can only embrace it in strategic ways that boost our learning capacities, make our life efficient, and help us master that art of what is truly unique: the human experience.
Ayushi Bhardwaj is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley (fondly known as “Cal”), where she is studying Business Administration with a Global Concentration, along with Cognitive Science. She is interested in consumer psychology and marketing, and aims to work in Business on an international scale. Ayushi dreams to fuse empathy and strategy in her life trajectory, uplifting the world with intentionality.
You can often find her jotting down the random entrepreneurial ideas in her mind, snacking on quirky Trader Joe’s delicacies, or scrolling through way too many photos of her dog, Joey.
