AI is restructuring the MBA journey and influencing everything from curriculum design to career preparation. Hearing about important lessons this student has learned while using AI in business school
In addition to the core business fundamentals, today's MBA students may learn areas such as machine learning, AI strategy, data-driven decision-making, and new aspects of AI, such as ethics and bias.
In some pioneering schools, such as the IMD, students have the opportunity to use AI tools when navigating their learning experiences.
This is because Business spoke to Zareen Cheema, a current IMD MBA student, to find out what this entails about his experiences he learned with AI.
Selecting Ai-Enhanced MBA
Zarene studied mechanical engineering and worked in the automotive industry before embarking on an MBA at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Zarene believes the automotive industry is at the heart of change and has worked for Volvo, Sweden's largest automotive company, for about five years. She wanted to study MBA to gain a new perspective.
Zarene knows she wants a learning experience that is very relevant to today's workplace, and she searched for a business school with an evolving technology ecosystem. Placed among the 10 best MBAs in Europe within the 2025 Financial Times MBA rankings, IMD's future-oriented MBA curriculum is listed by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as the top business schools in Europe, combining leadership development with modern AI that bridges theory with practice.
“IMD's programs were extremely agile and flexible, and were changing rapidly as things around the world were moving,” says Zareen.
The MBA programme includes a month's future lab in Singapore and includes educating skills such as data cleaning, data modeling, and data-driven decision-making methods. “These skills are really useful for someone. [like me] “Those who come from a difficult mechanical engineering background,” she observes.
IMD focuses on teaching modern business skills by integrating AI into the learning experience. The school recently introduced a new AI chatbot, IMD AI+, into its MBA program. Using this tool has a major impact on your learning experience, and Zareen is elevating your MBA journey in two important ways.
How AI enhances your MBA experience
1. AI can become a private tutor providing 24/7 support
IMD AI+ is a generative AI tool trained in school curriculum and case materials, built to help students learn and interrogate topics such as financial concepts, strategic frameworks, performance data, and marketing.
Omar Toulan PhD, dean of IMD's MBA program, says students can ask GPT questions based on class content, providing access to both internal course materials and the broader internet. He says he will serve as “an MBA in your back pocket.”
“Chatbots record and transcribe lectures and provide highlights of what you may have missed,” says Zarene, who used the new tool through the MBA journey.
“Chatbots create an environment where I feel like I'm chatting with a professor. It has the same tone, context and history. Of course, I was still able to talk to a professor, but this AI gives us a different layer of interaction beyond traditional working hours.”
She feels the tool is a valuable addition to the MBA experience, but Zarene also notes that it supplements, rather than replacing human interaction and teaching.
2. AI gives you more confidence as a future leader
One of the key areas that AI chatbots such as IMD AI+ can help students are providing feedback on issues and supporting improvements across a wide range of areas.
“I received real-time feedback. I asked the right questions. Have you planned the scenario, used your cross-sectional skills, and how can you improve it? [This was] Rather than having to wait until the end of the module, Zareen says.
The tool is part of IMD's agile approach to integrating technology into MBA programs, aiming to help students interact more dynamically with course materials and develop their knowledge and skills further.
“Like our comments about individual assignments, students look at the graphs of where our skills are now,” she adds.
This approach helped Zareen, whose key goal when participating in an MBA was to get out of her comfort zone and study new topics such as finance, accounting, and strategic decision-making.
“I wanted to go back to my industry to be bolder ideas, more confident and leader,” she says. Through tailored coaching provided by both professors and IMD AI+, paired with the program's dedicated leadership model, Zareen feels that her MBA is helping her achieve her goals.
With a program that combines essential knowledge that refines student business insights with programs focusing on modern technology, IMD MBA is designed to prepare students for today's workforce. Zareen feels that this combination has proven effective in making her a more balanced expert.
“AI intends to strengthen your capabilities as a leader and make decisions, but I have also learned kindness and empathy.”
Advice for registering with the right MBA
For Zareen, it was expected to boost her business knowledge and provide insight into how cutting-edge technology could impact the business that drove her towards the IMD MBA choice.
For others who are considering their own paths, she advises them to weigh what is important to them. Then, make a decision and decide to accept the experience.
“An MBA is one of the biggest investments in my life, but decisions have been the most useful thing in my life so far,” Zareen said. “Don't wait for the right time. If you want to do it, just do it. There's no ideal moment to start.”
