How would (operations management) research and education evolve in the AI era?

Abstract

AI is fundamentally transforming all areas of our lives, including research and education. It opens new opportunities and unfolds a multitude of critical discussions. Among others, the discussion about future trends in research and education is lively and diverse, ranging from optimistic sentiments about “AI takes it all” to pessimistic tones about dehumanization and the degradation of thinking capabilities. We do not know to what extent AI will come to dominate in the future. However, thinking about research and education in an AI-augmented world might be useful regardless of how much AI will be in our lives in the future. In this note, I try to take a balanced position and provide my opinion on how research and education in general, and operations management in particular, could evolve in the AI era, considering both chances and risks. As one of the outcomes of this viewpoint note, a framework is proposed, featuring three main elements that education and research should be composed of, i.e., human knowledge base (i.e., what we know without asking AI), AI-augmented thinking and learning, and human-AI collaboration in solving complex problems. I also discuss how journal editorial and review practices, universities and their (operations management) course curricula, and research funding assessments could evolve over time, concluding that the academic profession would change, and not necessarily for the worse.