The world of education is undergoing a pragmatic shift, and at the heart of it is artificial intelligence. What began as a promising tool for efficiency has quickly become a challenge for academics, forcing institutions to rethink how they assess students.
John Lodewijks, Professor and Vice President – Academic of SP Jain Group, touched upon the most concerning fallout of Artificial Intelligence in an exclusive conversation with FinancialExpress.com.
“The change is dramatic, isn’t it? It’s transforming everything – not just universities, but every corner of business and daily life,” remarked Professor Lodewijks. He shared how his institution is wrestling with this ‘tsunami of AI’ on three fronts: constantly updating what they teach, battling students who use AI to cheat, and figuring out how to actually use AI in their own operations.
But what about academic integrity? How are they coping with cheating becoming so easy? Professor Lodewijks didn’t mince words. “Honestly, it’s a bit like cops and robbers,” he confessed. “We’re the cops, trying to keep things honest. But these students? They’re miles ahead when it comes to AI. They pick it up so much faster, and they’re using it to sail through assignments.”
He recounted how they initially relied on tools like ‘Turnitin,’ which would flag high percentages of AI-generated content. “It was easy at first. We’d see 65%, 70% AI, and we’d nab them,” he explained. But then came the ‘humanisers’. These clever programs take AI-generated text and tweak it to sound more natural, making it nearly impossible for the old detection methods to work. “Now, the AI indicator barely registers, even if we know the whole thing was AI-generated,” he said. While a new, even more sophisticated detection technology is in the works, Professor Lodewijks admitted, “We’re always playing catch-up. The technology just moves too fast.”
Despite these headaches, Professor John Lodewijks remains upbeat about AI’s bigger picture – especially when it comes to jobs. He firmly pushed back against the “gloom and doom” predictions of mass unemployment. “Historically, new technology always creates more jobs than it destroys,” he argued. He cited findings from the World Economic Forum, which suggest a net gain in jobs, though they’ll be different kinds of jobs requiring different skills.
He emphasises the timeless value of “people skills” – things like teamwork, emotional intelligence, strong communication, and leadership. “These soft skills will always be crucial, no matter what technology throws our way,” he stressed. But he also urged students to embrace AI, to “harness the new technology” to boost their learning and career prospects. Those who understand AI will simply have an edge, he believes.
SP Jain Group is leading the charge, he says, integrating AI deeply into their curriculum, even launching a new MBA specialisation in “AI in Business.” This program explores a range of topics, including AI applications and strategic implementation, as well as the ethics and legal aspects of AI, culminating in a capstone project where students design new products using AI. Professor Lodewijks thinks it’s a unique offering among business schools.
He admits that students are often “way ahead of us” when it comes to using AI in practice, especially in exams. But the goal, he clarified, isn’t to stop them. “We want to teach them the right way to use AI,” he said. “Not just as a shortcut, but as a genuine support tool, a way to add real value, to think critically with it.”