The professor of information management and analytics laments that curiosity is fast disappearing among people. “Because you don’t have to be curious; when you need to know something, you can know it. Curiosity is about knowing things that you may not necessarily know why you want to know; you’re just curious. So, the whole notion of curiosity is being compromised.”

This concern has led SPJIMR to make some tough curriculum choices. It has moved a subject like systems dynamics — that trains students to think about connections that are often unnoticed — from an elective to a compulsory course. After all, doing business in a disruptive world is all about solving unprecedented problems.

The AI disruption notwithstanding, Nagaraj is a strong believer in the traditional role of B-schools — to groom the best managers. Perhaps that’s why, as the head of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan-backed Mumbai B-school, he is convinced that critical thinking abilities will assume greater significance for management professionals in an AI world. An AI chatbot may be able to come up with solutions for a particular challenge with multiple use cases. But when an unprecedented challenge strikes, critical thinking will distinguish a leader, he reasons.

So, how does the B-school, established in 1981, achieve the perfect balance between AI and preserving human judgement? It is actively integrating AI into its two-year postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) programme. For instance, beginning January 2026, all 110 students of Information Management and Analytics will be required to take the ‘AI Maker Lab’ course. Six workshops will be part of the sessions, to be led by faculty members fluent in the latest AI tools. The sessions will include an introduction to vibe coding, where students prototype ideas using natural language prompts with the help of Generative AI, without the need to master full-scale software development.

The idea is exposure. “We are going to expose them a little bit to the [AI] tools. We’re going to buy licences and set up a lab that’s open all night so they can practise what they want. But it’s on them to learn the tools,” Nagaraj says, with emphasis on the last sentence. He explains why. “In life, no one’s going to teach you. You have to learn by yourself.”

‘AI Maker Lab’ course

India’s Best B-schools: How SPJIMR is striking a balance between the use of AI and critical thinking