Through his research on how students learn with artificial intelligence, Andrew Hanna, assistant professor of management and Seacrest Teaching Fellow, transforms the classroom into a hands-on lab for innovation. In his Business Strategies (MNGT 475) capstone course, students use AI to consult with CEOs, analyze industries and make strategic recommendations based on real business scenarios.
Hanna and his research partner, Stephen Hyde of Boise State University, developed an AI-powered experience that allows students to simulate consulting sessions with virtual company leaders. The custom chatbot creates realistic conversations with AI-generated CEOs across any industry.
“It starts by asking students what kind of industry or business they are interested in,” Hanna explained. “Then it assumes the role of a CEO in that space and walks them through challenges the company is facing. Students have to ask questions, analyze the situation and recommend a strategic decision, just as they would in a real consulting role.”
Students apply the stakeholder theory, considering all parties affected by a company’s actions and not just shareholders, to guide their decisions, and evaluate tradeoffs and ethical implications. After each session, Hanna receives a transcript and qualitative evaluation of how well a student’s reasoning aligns with strategic principles.
“We’ve done this for ethical dilemmas, industry analysis and strategic decision-making,” Hanna said. “The AI gives students a practical way to apply what they’re learning to something that actually matters to them, and that makes all the difference in how engaged they are.”
Hanna’s research explores how students’ attitudes toward AI affect learning. His findings reveal a striking pattern: students who view AI as an ethical and trustworthy tool perform significantly better.
“The most predictive factor of performance wasn’t how much autonomy they felt or how tech-savvy they were. It was their ethical perception of AI,” Hanna said. “If they thought of it negatively, they used it poorly. But those who saw it as a useful, ethical tool absolutely knocked it out of the park.”
By blending his research with his class, Hanna not only studies how students learn with AI but also demonstrates its potential to transform business education.
“It is a phenomenal tool,” Hanna said. “It gives students a personalized, realistic experience that builds confidence in making strategic recommendations. It also does it in a way that is scalable, ethical and creative.”
Examples of Business Courses Integrating AI:
- Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ENTR 121): Students engage in an AI sprint to create a snack company and go-to-market packaging, branding and more. The course builds practical fluency in human-AI collaboration and sharpens students’ understanding of capabilities that remain distinctly human, such as ethical judgment and persuasive storytelling.
- Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECON 311A): Students learn strategies to create a productive conversation with AI, ultimately improving students’ ability to understand course content on a deeper level beyond memorization.
- Current Economic Issues (Econ 389): Students use AI intentionally and generate prompts to improve AI outputs and develop creative, relevant project topics. They co-design a case study with AI to assess class learning outcomes.
- Financial Management and Decision Making (FINA 475): Students explore the strategic and ethical dimensions of financial decision-making in the age of AI. Through case analysis and simulation, they learn how generative AI can accelerate technical tasks such as data gathering, valuation modeling and report drafting, while discovering its limitations in judgment and moral discernment. The goal is to teach students how to collaborate intelligently with AI, demystifying its use and employing it to clarify complex decisions rather than to replace thought.
- Healthcare Marketing & AI (MRKT 490): Students examine how marketers navigate the healthcare industry while exploring how AI is redefining the future of marketing practice.
- Customer Analytics and AI (MRKT 821): Graduate students gain hands-on experience with AI as they learn to ask effective research questions, collect and analyze data, and draw insights to support better business decisions. Using consumer-level data, they evaluate new business opportunities, make go/no-go decisions for new products, and address pricing and product design challenges.
