AI use grows in Indian B-Schools, but only 7% faculty are experts: Survey

Only 51 per cent of faculty members are confident of a favourable impact of AI adoption on business school students, and only 7 per cent are expert users, even as the Indian B-Schools are increasingly adopting generative AI in teaching, research and curriculum design, according to a new survey.

The survey conducted by MBAUniverse.com among 235 faculty members from India's top B-schools, including IIMs, IITs, ISB, XLRI, SPJIMR, MDI and NMIMS, offered a detailed look at how generative AI is shaping management education.

According to the survey, 51 per cent of faculty report a favourable impact of AI on student learning, while over half expect AI's role in teaching, curriculum and research to increase in the next 12 months. Intermediate users make up 55 per cent of faculty, with 7 per cent identifying as experts, signalling huge opportunities for structured capacity-building programs.

"The findings reveal that faculty are using AI most in research and teaching, while applications in curriculum development are growing steadily. Administrative tasks and student assessment remain emerging areas, highlighting opportunities for structured support and capacity building," the survey report said.

The survey also sheds light on faculty perceptions of AI's impact on student learning, skill development and classroom engagement, as well as the tools, training and policy guidance they consider most important for responsible adoption.

According to Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, AI is transforming education and must be harnessed responsibly to strengthen both teaching and learning.

" It gives every student the freedom to ask questions and helps overcome barriers of language, background, or geography," he said.

The survey found that among AI tools, ChatGPT was rated most relevant for teaching-related activities. This was followed by Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, while Google Gemini and Claude received moderate ratings. Meta AI was rated lowest in relevance.

Though the majority of faculty viewed the impact of AI usage on student learning favourably, about 21 per cent indicated it was too early to assess, and 18 per cent observed an unfavourable impact. A smaller share of nearly 10 per cent reported no significant impact.

The leading challenge identified in research-related use of generative AI was ethical and integrity concerns, followed by inaccuracies or unreliable outputs and the lack of regulatory policy.

Amit Agnihotri, Founder and Chair, Indian Management Conclave, said, "We are living in an era where AI is widely recognised as having the potential to fundamentally transform business processes, redefine jobs and competencies, and reshape the landscape of higher education. Management education stands at the frontier of this transition".

The report was released at the 15th edition of the conclave.