The need for a fully integrated model combining artificial intelligence, business and management

Although artificial intelligence dates back to the 1950s, it is now experiencing such rapid growth that machines are now capable of outperforming humans in certain areas.

Artificial intelligence can legitimately replace humans in carrying out tedious and time-consuming tasks, allowing them to devote themselves to more rewarding activities. The challenge posed by AI therefore lies in training both young and older people to meet these new challenges.

Beyond its technical aspects (web crawling, data mining, data science, machine learning, deep learning, etc.), the convergence of AI and management is essential to addressing the major technological shifts, the challenges posed by scientific progress and the societal constraints that will shape the world of tomorrow. The full integration of content, teaching methods and research in AI and the social sciences thus paves the way for the emergence of a new model capable of tackling major scientific, industrial and societal challenges. Our vision for the school does not seek to compete with engineering or business schools, both of which have a long-standing tradition and are well-established in France, but rather to explore the field that lies between these two pillars of excellence, as successfully demonstrated in certain world-class institutions such as Stanford University or the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).

‘Teaching [on the ethics of AI] is virtually absent from the curricula of engineering schools or computer science programmes at universities, even though the volume and complexity of the ethical issues these future graduates will face are constantly increasing.’ Villani Report, 2018

aivancity: a model of complete integration between artificial intelligence, business and ethics

Tawhid Chtioui, Founder and President and Dean of the aivancity School for Technology, Business & Society in Paris-Cachan, outlines the challenges posed by artificial intelligence and the need for a hybrid educational model.
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Artificial Intelligence: Trust and Responsibility

In AI, the issue of trust is obviously crucial. When we take a medicine without knowing its chemical formula, we trust the manufacturer to ensure the medicine will treat our condition.

In the same way, we place our trust in recommendation algorithms: the top results on a search engine, Netflix’s suggestions for films to watch or Amazon’s recommendations for products to buy, the route suggested by your sat-nav


But what are the reasons and objectives behind these recommendations? Are they ‘customer-focused’ recommendations, designed to satisfy the customer, or ‘service-focused’, intended solely to meet the company’s needs (clearing stock, promoting a product, etc.)? And what are the optimisation functions? An online video search engine can be optimised based on the amount of time a user spends in front of the screen. This leads AI to suggest increasingly addictive content (violence, rumours, fake news, etc.).

It is therefore essential to incorporate these ethical issues, in the broadest sense, into AI training programmes: from issues in the sociology of work (click workers) to data-related issues (GDPR), to questions concerning the robustness of algorithms, their explainability and their biases, as well as ‘customer relations’, governance issues (social credit, etc.), and philosophy (free will, volition, etc.).

aivancity’s degree programmes are structured around a balance of three components: 50 per cent technological skills, 25 per cent business management and 25 per cent AI ethics. These skills are delivered through educational content (lectures, practical applications, AI case studies, personal development) in which the three components are fully integrated. All our professional training programmes also systematically incorporate the business and ethical implications of the technological aspects of AI and/or data covered. This hybrid approach is the hallmark of aivancity School of AI & Data for Business & Society