It is only in the last few years that AI has become a hot topic among the general public. AI has been a top priority for Charles Kuai for more than 14 years. It’s the latest in a series of emerging technologies he’s focused on during his 34-year career.
Mr. Kuai has founded or co-founded multiple technology companies, including Cerence, a global leader in creating AI-powered experiences across automotive and transportation vehicles. More than 1 billion cars are now equipped with Cerence AI technology. Prior to joining Cerence, Mr. Kuai was senior vice president and founding president of the Greater China division of Nuance, a Microsoft company.
Kuai is also a founding industry advisory board member of the Northwestern University MBAi program, a joint degree program offered between the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering. “MBAi is a frontier program,” Kuai said. “What’s so unique about this program is that it’s a collaboration between the business school and the engineering school, so the two parts (of the brain) work together.”
The MBAi program prepares students to work effectively with executive leaders, machine learning engineers, and data scientists. The curriculum and out-of-classroom experiences were co-designed by leaders from both schools to best train students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive now and into the future.
Kuai will continue to serve as a mentor and advisor to the program. We also regularly connect companies with the program as sponsors of the program’s MBAi + MSAI Capstone project. Students spend one quarter working with students in Northwestern Engineering’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program to solve business problems for real companies.
Last year, Kuai helped connect the program with visual and educational technology solutions company ViewSonic for a sponsored project that was named a top project in the MBAi + MSAI Capstone Showcase. “The group solved an industry-specific problem: how textbooks, a key tool in education, will change in the age of AI,” Kuai said. “That group’s project brings us one step closer to personalized learning.”
The ever-expanding influence of AI
Kuai has always been a strong supporter of MBAi, but said the program is more important than ever since AI has entered everyday society. As AI becomes more commonplace in the business world, leaders need to understand how to supervise humans and machines. “Companies will be leveraging 1 to 99 percent synthetic resources,” he said. “You can’t be in a leadership position if you don’t understand how to manage a synthetic staff.”
Mr. Quai left his full-time job with Cerence in 2023, but did not explicitly say he was retiring. Instead, he got what he calls “graduation as a professional.” “Retirement is a bad business model,” Quai said. “People are born, go to school, work, retire, and die. In modern retirement, I’m moving into a portfolio career, which means working in different fields at the same time, all related to artificial intelligence.”
One such area is education, where Mr. Quai has shown continued support for MBAi. This is a program he is passionate about, and from his perspective, it is one that is desperately needed. “I strongly believe that business leaders need to understand this very important technology platform,” Kuai said. “That’s why when you asked me, does the MBAi serve a purpose? I thought it was very important. Without a doubt, the MBAi will serve a purpose.”
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