FROM BLUFFTON UNIVERSITY__Forum presenter Raj Biyani, chief innovation officer at Goshen College, shared his research exploring the rapidly changing role of artificial intelligence and what it means for organizations, education and future leaders.

The discussion emphasized that understanding AI requires more than simply knowing the names of popular tools. Biyani explained, “Knowing the name of something is not the same as knowing something. And most of what we call education is really just learning names. Learning labels. But thinking, real thinking, means asking what’s actually happening.”

That distinction was applied directly to artificial intelligence, where tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini have quickly become part of everyday conversations. Biyani challenged leaders and educators to look beyond the tools themselves and consider how AI is changing the way people work, make decisions and create value.

The Forum explored how organizations are moving beyond using AI simply to make existing tasks faster.  “Because AI takes care of all the generation, the first drafts, the virtual mockups, and variations, human teams can now focus on the storytelling,” Biyani said.

As AI makes it easier and less expensive to produce content and products, however, capturing people's attention becomes increasingly important.

For leaders, the challenge is not simply determining whether AI should be used but understanding where it can add the most value. Biyani encouraged organizations to give their teams room to experiment while providing clear direction about where AI fits within the organization's broader strategy.

“Leaders should empower teams across the organization to explore the out of the possible, to experiment with AI, to test ideas. But at some point, the leadership must focus their energy and clearly articulate what the organization's strategy is, and where the organization will prioritize adoption.”

One framework Biyani discussed considered two factors when determining how AI might be used: the amount of human knowledge required to complete a task and the potential cost of an error.

“When both tacit knowledge and the cost of error are low, that's a good candidate for automation. On the other hand, if one is high and one is low, that's a space for augmentation, where you need to have a human in the loop.”

When both factors are high, Biyani emphasized that human oversight becomes essential.

The discussion ultimately returned to the importance of developing people who can adapt as technology continues to evolve. “AI does really well on the aptitude side. AI does not do so well on the attitude dimension,” Biyani said. “But the attitude, the willingness to learn, the ability to adapt, that becomes much more important.”

For higher education, that means balancing the need to operate effectively today with the need to continually adapt for tomorrow.  For Bluffton and other colleges and universities, the challenge is not simply teaching students how to use today's technology. It is helping them develop the judgment, adaptability, creativity and curiosity needed to navigate technologies that will continue to change.

Biyani encouraged leaders to think beyond using AI to make existing work more efficient and instead consider how it can create new possibilities. “Where leaders use AI should not be just to do things better but to do better things.”

Biyani's discussion emphasized that AI literacy requires more than knowing the names of the latest tools. It requires the ability to think critically about what technology can do, where it belongs and when distinctly human judgment matters most.