Professor Edgar Barroso has been with the school since its early days as Madrid Business School, later teaching across campuses in Milan, Antwerp, Geneva, and Zurich. A pioneer in Madrid and Valencia, he’s a truly international professor.

Alongside academia, Edgar built a career in business and consulting, launching his first franchise at 22 and later working in the U.S. with American Hotel Register Company. His focus: connecting strategy, entrepreneurship, and real-world experience for students.

As artificial intelligence transforms industries at record speed, educators face a pivotal challenge: how do we prepare students for a future where AI isn’t just a tool, but a co-worker, a recruiter, and even a competitor?

In this conversation, Edgar Barroso, CMC®, shares insights into what students truly need to thrive and how business schools must evolve. From AI co-pilots to entrepreneurship and soft skills, the next generation will need more than technical know-how.

“So all those soft skills are vital because AI is going to be taking over a lot of jobs. This is not being frantic or about paranoia. It is the reality. Robotization is getting brutal. It’s all part of what we call Industry 4.0. Robotization, the Internet of Things, wearables, machine-to-machine learning, deep learning, digital twins in machines and people, like avatars, and then AI in the center.”

AI in the Consulting Industry

“I have different companies, but one of them is consulting. And without AI, it’s impossible to do anything in consulting anymore. It’s just that they look at you like a dinosaur or a mammoth. It’s just that nobody wants to see it unless you know how to help them automate processes within an organization. So I bring AI to the corporate world, because nowadays we even must analyze if a job is going to be replaced by AI.”

AI as a Recruitment Filter in Corporations

“I think as professors, we need to kind of, like, not ignore AI. We need to separate, you know, risks of plagiarism and not doing any work, because otherwise the brains of our students are going to shrink like a prune. But at the same time, we cannot keep them away from AI, because one of the things I’m hearing from CEOs and HR directors of large corporations is like, we have established this rule: before we hire a person, can the AI do the job of that person? That’s rule number one. And number two, if we decide to hire a person, the person that comes on board needs to be proficient at using AI tools. So now, nobody wants to hire people who are not proficient with AI tools.”

Classroom Co-Pilots: Using AI as a Teaching Assistant

“So, if that’s the case, what are we going to do with our students? Are we going to keep them away from AI? Impossible. It’s a tool that nowadays is like, if you want to get an entry-level job position, it’s like back in the day, when people said, oh, you don’t know the Microsoft Office package? You don’t know Excel, PowerPoint? I mean, what galaxy are you from? Well, nowadays that’s going to be the same case with AI unless you know how to use all these different tools. And I’m not only talking about ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, all those. I’m talking about all the other apps that help with APIs and how to automate processes within. If they don’t know those types of things, they’re already dinosaurs. They’re already obsolete, and they’re out of college, right out of college.”

“So, it’s a complex thing. And that’s why I decided to get certified in AI use for consulting and for my classes, and to help all the students. We create everything from labels to new packaging in class to develop all these things, or we use AI as a consultant. I do that in business. And I use that in class as a consultant out loud so they hear the AI.

Even after hearing all our conversations, the AI has been on and speaking out loud, explaining to us what— you know, it’s a he, because he has a male voice— but he tells us what his opinion is about what we’re doing in class and the students’ answers. And so, it’s almost like another co-pilot or consultant or advisor out loud in our classes.

And the students are like, oh my God. So, it’s those types of tools that help us stay a little bit ahead of the game.”

Entrepreneurship and Financial Independence

“And the way we’re going also, it’s my assumption—answering your question as well—is that companies are going to be using us, or using our skills and our services, on almost a project-by-project basis, while they need us. Because we are, as we all know, one of the costliest elements of any company: human resources. So, since they have to eliminate costs and automate things, they’re going to eliminate us as soon as they consider that we are obsolete or we don’t add enough value. So, another skill is the capacity for lifelong learning. We always must keep learning and develop the skills of learning increasingly. So self-training is essential.”

Creativity and Innovation in the Age of AI

“Yes, I think that another thing that artificial intelligence will never erase is creativity. I think imagination, creativity—when you ask ChatGPT to create, I don’t know, a name for a brand—it’s not very clever in that sense. So at least creativity is still something that we can keep for humans. Yeah, hopefully. I mean, for a while, because we’re going to get very good. Whenever we get to the concept called singularity, when you pretty much equalize the concept of emulating emotions, etc., things are going to get very complex, but we will always use those, adding more value to what the AI is doing. And we will co-create, and we will have almost like a parallel consultant helping us out or a co-pilot working a lot of that. But creativity nowadays, it is, but the way it’s going… But at the same time, it is something that we will use as a tool in many cases, particularly when we’re independent—when you’re working for a company, it might replace you. Once we are independent in the sense that you have your own company, we’ll be using all these tools. Getting to the point, when you’re talking about innovation and creativity, that’s vital in all aspects of business, but it will help us to be even more innovative and more creative.”

AI in Assessment and Critical Thinking

So for example, if we talked about curriculum development—do you think everything should be transversal? Should AI be used as an assessment tool? That in each class, students should deliver and judge data using AI? Should that be part of the rubric?

“Absolutely. Because of course, you know, they’re already using AI to do their assessments and homework. But what I ask them—something that covers both soft skills and critical thinking—is this: They all must present. In my classes, at least three times: first assignment, second assignment, and group assignment in undergrad courses. They can have visual aids behind them, but everything they talk about must be reasoned without looking at the screen—and they must be ready for any type of question.”

“Fantastic if they use AI. Like back in the day, we only had encyclopedias in the library, and then Google came around. Well, nowadays they have this tool—fantastic—but they still must deliver. And I want them to present as if they own the place: they must know the data, know where it comes from, and be ready. By doing that, they learn to organize and structure knowledge. Because if you investigate the pyramid of knowledge, the highest level is achieved when you can teach others. So, bingo, that’s exactly what they’re doing—enlightening the rest of the class.”

Empowering Youth and Promoting Humility

“And I think when we see youth unemployment rates, and how we’ve treated youth recently—I think now it’s their turn. We need to teach them how to co-create. It’s their moment to bring out their potential. It’s an excellent tool for them. But like with everything, there’s a great risk—relying too much on it. But the potential is amazing.”

“And I try to teach them humility. The more you learn, the humbler you should become—because you realize how little we all know. Even with AI. And some students come from very well-off families and have this attitude like, ‘I’ll just inherit money.’ And I say: even if you receive 100, you should turn that into 1,000, 1 million, or 10 million. Don’t become a parasite. Multiply that wealth—not just for your children, but for society. Because society allows you to have that wealth. You owe it to the world to give something back.”

“That’s my motto every day: ‘Every day, bigger and better.’ And with humility. So others don’t see you as the hottest thing on the planet just because your family has money. We are all at the same level. With humility, we must bring good things to society.”

“And little by little, it works. Some students respond better than others. But overall, their attitude changes. And as professors, we must keep upgrading ourselves too, bringing value to the classroom. Otherwise, we lose our focus. Our job is to help them become great people—at both the human and professional levels.”

“I always tell them, I don’t talk down to you. I speak to you seriously, but I’m also still learning. I learn from you too. Your work and effort help me grow as well. We share. We trade in knowledge. And I try to make them feel part of a bigger project.”