“AI poses a huge threat to people's ability to learn and upskill. The threat is that we will lose skills.” – Irish Times

On one wall on Trinity Business School's spacious ground floor, in glossy blue letters is a new mission statement: “Transforming business forever.” So I asked the school's dean, Professor Laurent Musellec, “Is business bad?” I ask.

We plunge into a conversation about massive wealth inequality and the depletion of the earth's resources.

“Businesses have been responsible for economic growth, but they have also been extremely responsible for the climate crisis and, to some extent, the systems of social inequality that we live in. So we need to fix that. It's that simple,” he said. But by the time we turn to the topic of artificial intelligence, I can't help but feel that the task of preparing students for the world has become more complex than ever.

One thing that hasn't diminished over time is the power of first-hand experience. Mouzelec, who came to Ireland from France 22 years ago, witnessed the scorching effects of global warming while traveling through the center of Brittany a few years ago, causing tinder-like conditions in the normally humid region. He says that this has become more likely to happen, and that his way of thinking has changed. The spread of intense flames. Mont d'Arale, normally as lush and warm as the Wicklow Mountains, was burnt to the ground.

“Everywhere around me was wiped out by wildfires that had been burning for two weeks, and all of a sudden you see this and you realize it never happened.”

As the person chosen by his colleagues to lead Trinity Business School, Mr Muzelek is responsible for, in his words, “developing the managerial elite of the future”, and is therefore responsible for Trinity's research on responsible business and sustainability. It seems important to work in parallel with new courses such as master's programs. We plan to accept our first students in September of this year. The school incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into as many modules as possible.

The “flashy” attitude of the financial industry from the 1980s to the 2000s, and the subsequent wave of high-tech entrepreneurial imitations, naturally tilted student ambitions in this direction anyway, and both are now more nonprofit-oriented. I'm leaning toward that outlook.

“From a business school perspective, if you had asked people in the late 1990s and early 2000s what they wanted to do with their lives, they would have said they wanted to be Guinness or a brand manager for a large consumer giant.” Or KPMG or someone who wanted to work for a large consulting firm,” he says.

“Then we moved on to 'I want to start my own company' and started an internet company and a new app. Now that there's a mix of entrepreneurship and purpose, the idea for the app is all about sustainability and It’s about the circular economy.”

He agrees that this is healthy, but hesitates when I suggest the word “idealistic” because this trend is also driven by the knowledge that there is a market opportunity here. Moreover, the “level of skepticism toward traditional business” he senses from his students didn't come out of nowhere.

“They are to some extent disillusioned with the corporate world. I've seen people get fired at the age of 2.

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Mouzelec was born into a middle-class family in Brest, Brittany, and later grew up in Angers, in the Loire Valley, where he attended secondary school in a public housing area called La Roselais. One legacy of the friendships he formed during this time was that social inclusion became “very important” to him personally.

Like his predecessor, Professor Andrew Burke, he is proud of his Access to Business Pathways scheme for students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, and is committed to raising further philanthropic proceeds. Last month's Trinity Business Forum was made into a paid event. . More than 100 students have received scholarships from Pathways to Business, and three graduate scholarships have been allocated to its participants.

“If you come from a background where money is a problem, the biggest thing that can help you is money,” he says.

It is not easy for undergraduate students to adjust to Trinity, regardless of their socio-economic background, but for students who are the first in their family to receive third-level education, the adjustment can be particularly difficult. Yes, he points out, citing Connell's story arc, the character played by Paul Mescal (a “great actor”) in the Trinity-set television version of “Normal People.”

He believes the university's business student population is now balanced between men and women, and that shackling people by identity can be counterproductive, but that past typical M.B.A. (MBA) I noticed that the testosterone-filled atmosphere of my classes was fading with time. Diversity has improved.

“That's partially due to the way we teach, but also largely depends on the type of people that come into the class, including the fact that there's a gender balance.”

The focus on ESG concerns, including women's participation and the school's own carbon footprint, has also had the pleasing result of boosting Trinity in the Financial Times' MBA rankings, with both is increasing. In the latest tally, Trinity's full-time MBA was ranked 66th in the world, an increase of 21 places from the previous year's rankings, and 21st in Europe. There is no higher education institution in Ireland.

Previously, these rankings focused more on post-MBA salary increases. That is, the type of student who enrolls in her MBA to hone his business skills while working in the nonprofit sector typically did not have much of an impact on university rankings.

Muzelek said he doesn't let the Financial Times' rankings dictate Trinity's approach, but instead focuses on them.

“For me, rankings are there to validate strategy. If you have a strategy and it's a good strategy, the rankings will recognize that.”

Trinity Business School, which has about 2,000 undergraduates and 1,000 postgraduate students, was previously “much smaller” and unranked, creating an opportunity for a culture of relentlessly monitoring rankings to take hold. He says there was no such thing. He hopes that doesn't happen, at least not while he's in charge.

The school's goal is “not necessarily” to further increase the number of students. Around 70 per cent of postgraduate students come from overseas, and although the number of applicants is increasing (a trend perhaps related to the decline in the number of EU students attending UK universities after Brexit), the UK has “literally no There is no longer a place for people to find accommodation.” Dublin, says Muzelek.

“Some people apply but are gone by the time the lecture starts, because they came in August to look for accommodation.” [and couldn’t find it]” he says. While this is “really unfortunate,” he recognizes that these challenges are just one aspect of a confluence of multiple housing crises. “That’s a problem, but it’s a bigger problem for other people.”

Visible from his glass-enclosed third-floor office, darts run along the railroad tracks that transport commuters into and out of the city. Officially opened in May 2019, Trinity Business School, a six-storey, €80 million building, opens its doors on Pearce Street, nestled between leading technology companies in the Digital Docklands and the historic multidisciplinary Trinity campus. facing.

“Business schools are literally at the intersection of these two worlds, both physically and conceptually,” he says.

This is truly uncharted territory, so it would be foolish to say that any business school or any company has the answer.

Mr Muzellec, 50, first joined Trinity as professor of marketing and digital business in 2015, establishing the master's program in digital marketing strategy and founding the Center for Digital Business and Analytics. Prior to joining Trinity, his academic career spanned his UCD Smurfit School in Angers, DCU Business School and ESSCA Management School. His research interests include digital business models, social media, corporate rebranding, and interestingly, fictional brands.

Before deciding to study my PhD at UCD, I worked at the French Embassy Trade Office in New York and then as a Product Manager at an online mapping start-up in Paris. While the thorough understanding of academic life he has developed over the past 20 years is clearly essential to his role as dean, he has had “a bit of business acumen” since the early stages of his career. is also “definitely harmless.” he is thinking.

Responding to constant change is part of running a business school, but a particular revolution in the “foundations” of education and assessment is currently looming. This is the emergence of generative AI.

“AI is a big change, and personally I would argue that it is the first in human history,” he says matter-of-factly.

“If you look at human history, we've always, in some sense, outsourced some level of cognitive ability to an external object or something.”

The Greeks who heard Socrates had to memorize what they learned, but every advancement since then, from paper to the printing press to computers, has required us to “let go of some skills” and included acquiring other skills.

“And what's happening with AI, especially generative AI, is that you literally don't have to know anything to use that technology, or at least to exploit it. You just have to ask a question. “It's a huge threat to our ability to learn and upskill.”

“The threat is that our skills will deteriorate.”

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This has a huge impact on what is taught and how it is taught, so an AI taskforce has been set up to investigate how schools will evolve. The task force is designing a module for instructors called Teaching with AI. Tips are just the beginning.

“We have to assume that 99.9 percent of students will use AI in some way to find answers. But preliminary research on AI shows that students take instructor questions and pass them on to AI software. “If you just use AI to type things in and give you answers, you're less motivated to learn. They literally don't learn anything,” Muzelek said.

One way to alleviate this is to first create an assignment in which students “participate in meaningful conversations” with the AI ​​“as if it were a separate person” and then ask them how the AI ​​“first draft” works. to show how they have restructured and used it to refine their ideas. He says it's his own idea.

He added that people need to become familiar with AI to “understand the full benefits for individuals and society.” However, the fact that this technology can be used without effort or skill is still an obvious concern, while the expectation that this technology will trigger job losses is definitely “scary” and could lead to other job losses. Even considering the potential creation of AI and the possibilities of AI, the age of rampant “hype” will eventually succumb to a calmer clarity.

“The frustrating thing about AI and phenomena like this is that they impose themselves on society. You can't ignore it, you can't…”

he stopped. “Do you want to control it?” I suggest.

“That's exactly the problem. It's a tsunami.”

“This is really uncharted territory, so it would be foolish to say that any business school or any company will have the answer.”

Although the role of a dean is “a bit removed” from the academic schedule of lectures and exams, it has taken on a unique dynamic during this period, and his mission at the moment is to ensure specific plans are achieved. The goal is to advance the work of the AI ​​Task Force. Can be implemented by September. With summer upon us, there is no time to waste as schools continue to 'walk their talk' and transform their businesses forever by first transforming themselves.

resume

name Professor Laurent Musellec

work Dean of Trinity Business School

live Windy Arbor (Dublin)

family He is married to Lisa Ryan and they have three children, ages 11, 14, and 17.

something you might expect Previously, he would often return to France in the summer and work remotely, but he believes this will become “more difficult” in his new role.

something that might surprise you He was a football coach for Rosemount Malvey Football Club's under 12s team and also had a brief stint as GAA coach at Kilmacud Crokes in Stillorgan, where the children were Frenchmen's GAA He “quickly realized” that his abilities were “quite limited.”