AI Innovator Explains Value of MBAi

It’s only been in the last few years that AI has been a topic of conversation for the general public. For Charles Kuai, AI has been top of mind for well over 14 years. It's the latest in a string of emerging technologies he's focused on during his 34-year career.

Kuai has founded or co-founded multiple technology companies, including Cerence, a global leader in creating AI-powered experiences across automotive and transportation vehicles. More than 1 billion cars currently feature Cerence AI technology. Prior to Cerence, Kuai was senior vice president of Nuance, a Microsoft company, and was the founding president of the Greater China Division. 

Kuai is also a founding Industry Advisory Board member of Northwestern’s MBAi program, a joint-degree program offered between the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering. “MBAi is a frontier program,” Kuai said. “The thing that is very unique about the program is that it's a collaboration between a business school and an engineering school, so you are getting the two parts (of the brain) working together.”

The MBAi program prepares students to work effectively with C-suite leaders as well as machine learning engineers and data scientists. The curriculum and out-of-classroom experiences were jointly designed by leaders of both schools to best train students with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive today — and in the future.

Kuai continues to serve as a mentor and adviser to the program. He also routinely connects companies with the program as sponsors for the program's MBAi + MSAI Capstone project. Students spend one quarter collaborating with students from Northwestern Engineering’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program to solve a real company's business problem.

This past year, Kuai helped connect the program with visual and educational technology  solutions company ViewSonic for a sponsored project that went on to be named the top project at the MBAi + MSAI Capstone Showcase. “That group solved a unique industry problem: How will education’s primary tool — the textbook — change in an age of AI?” Kuai said. “That group’s project brings us one step closer to personalized learning.”

The ever-growing influence of AI

Kuai has always been a strong proponent for MBAi, but since AI's emergence into everyday society, he said the program is more important now than ever before. As AI becomes more commonplace in the business world, leaders will need to understand how to oversee humans and machines. “Companies are going to be powered by anywhere from 1 to 99 percent synthetic resources," he said. "If you don't understand how to manage synthetic staff, you're not going to be in a leadership position.”

Kuai left Cerence and full-time work in 2023, but he won't say that he's retired. Instead, he earned what he calls his “professional graduation.” “Retirement is a bad business model,” Kuai said. “You are born, you go to school, you work, you retire, and you die. In modern retirement, I'm moving into a portfolio career, meaning I'm engaged in different verticals at the same time, all related to artificial intelligence.”

One of those verticals is education, where Kuai is demonstrating his continued support for MBAi. It's a program he’s passionate about, and, from his perspective, it’s a program that is desperately needed. “I strongly believe that we need to prepare business leaders with an understanding of this very important technological platform,” Kuai said. “That's why I thought it was so important when I was asked whether MBAi would serve a purpose. Absolutely, it's going to serve a purpose.”

Read next: AI leadership: Fostering a responsible tech culture