In Peering into the Immediate Future of MBAs, Prof. Alon Rozen examines how generative AI is fundamentally reshaping MBA education, not simply as a tool or a discrete subject, but as an ever-present force influencing how business schools teach, assess and define leadership. Now, in 2026, AI has moved beyond being an optional addition to curricula and has become embedded across MBA programs, shaping classroom practices, faculty roles, accreditation requirements and broader societal expectations.
Rozen argues that the core conversation around AI has shifted. Rather than focusing on how AI can be used, business schools and the wider business community are increasingly asking what kind of society is being built with it. This reframing reflects deeper concerns about AI’s long-term impact on employment, productivity, human welfare, authorship and critical thinking. While MBA programs have previously adapted to major technological shifts such as globalization, digitization and big data, generative AI feels more immediate and far-reaching. It challenges assumptions that business schools have traditionally treated as stable, including how thinking, creativity and responsibility are defined.
From a student perspective, AI use is now widespread and largely unavoidable. The challenge is no longer whether students use AI, but how they use it. Some deploy it thoughtfully and strategically, while others rely on it in ways that undermine learning and originality. This has created an increasingly strained dynamic in which institutions attempt to restrict AI use in certain assessments while students become more adept at concealing it. Rozen suggests that this approach is unsustainable. Instead, MBA programs must focus on helping students develop intelligent, ethical and responsible ways of working with AI, much as earlier generations learned to integrate spreadsheets and calculators into professional practice.
Faculty face an equally profound challenge. If AI can outperform humans in delivering theoretical and knowledge-based content, the traditional role of the professor is called into question. Rozen highlights the need for a fundamental rethinking of pedagogy, assessment, feedback and the student–teacher relationship. As AI raises the threshold for what counts as thinking, faculty will need to place greater emphasis on judgment, synthesis, critical reasoning and contextual understanding. He suggests that 2026 will represent a tipping point in how faculty roles evolve within MBA programs.
Accreditation bodies are adding to this pressure by requiring business schools to demonstrate how learning outcomes, original authorship and curriculum relevance can be preserved in AI-saturated environments. As a result, schools can no longer treat AI as peripheral. They are being forced to define clear positions, policies and governance approaches, while the technology itself evolves faster than institutions can realistically keep up with.
Rozen situates these educational challenges within a broader philosophical and societal debate. Drawing on thinkers such as Jacques Ellul and economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, he warns against uncritical techno-optimism. Not all technological progress leads to genuine improvements in human welfare. In many cases, technology simply replaces labor without lowering costs or enhancing quality of life. Questions around automation, productivity, power and so-called “so-so technologies” are therefore no longer abstract concerns, but are becoming central themes in MBA classrooms.
Ultimately, Rozen frames 2026 as a defining moment for business schools. MBA programs must decide whether they will passively adopt technology as it emerges or actively shape how it is deployed in society. As AI becomes increasingly capable of providing answers, he concludes, the enduring value of business education lies in cultivating better judgment and better questions. This, he argues, has always been at the heart of intellectual leadership and remains the true purpose of an MBA.
Prof. Alon Rozen is Dean, CEO and Prof. of Innovation at École des Ponts Business School in Paris. Read the full, unedited version of this article in the upcoming MBA Ranking edition of CEO Magazine this March.
