Ethical AI in the Workplace: Here’s What Students Need to Know

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, the term “AI” meant very little in workplaces and across college campuses. But since ChatGPT became widely available in late 2022, followed by Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and a host of other services offering free, fast information and content, the debate around ethical AI use has become just as complicated as it has pervasive. 

Across college campuses, administration and faculty are torn between how to incorporate new technology into the classroom without simply allowing students to have the “robots” do their homework for them. Recently, over 3,300 California State University faculty, students, and staff signed a petition calling for an end to CSU’s 17 million-dollar deal with OpenAI as the University debates whether or not to extend its contract. Meanwhile, the AP reports that California teachers worry “AI cheating is off the charts.”

As all educators grapple with incorporating ethical AI use into the classroom, marketing professors are faced with an even more complex question: How to best prepare college students for a workplace in which they will likely use AI daily?

Because even as higher education struggles to teach ethical AI use in the classroom, marketers are using AI in every stage of the decision making process. And employers are looking for marketers who are both familiar with AI tools and understand the necessity of human-in-the-loop oversight.  

Why teach ethical AI in the workplace?

In most courses, educators are primarily concerned with how to prevent students from using AI to generate assignments, but in digital marketing courses, instructors are tasked with teaching students to navigate what Dr. Omar Rodríguez-Vilá, Professor in the Practice of Marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, calls “digital environments.” These environments encapsulate every arena of the digital landscape, including paid search, social, metrics, and all other aspects of upper and lower funnel marketing for digital platforms. 

Recent studies have found that job postings including AI skills can command salaries up to 28% higher than those without. But at the same time, marketers who treat AI as a “vending machine” in which they input prompts and unquestioningly use that output can cause major problems at work. For example, one small business in San Diego recently faced major backlash after adopting an AI-generated logo, while an AI telehealth company has been widely criticized for AI-generated ad campaigns that some critics say border on fraud.

The next generation of marketers are graduating into a precarious job market, where AI skills are highly desirable but AI misjudgment can come with serious consequences. It’s up to marketing educators to help students navigate this complicated new world by integrating judgment into AI instruction.  

What are the biggest AI challenges marketers currently face?

AI is a brand-new technology, and most companies are still crafting policy to handle the issues that arise as they integrate tools into nearly every stage of the marketing process. Harvard Business Review notes that bias, transparency, and privacy are the main concerns around AI. 

And those concerns are valid. A 2025 study found that AI-generated slogans were not neutral: of 1,700 slogans generated for 17 demographics, women, young people, low-income earners, and those with lower education levels were served distinctly different messaging than older, high-income targets with college educations. Recent lawsuits have arisen over misleading AI claims, as consumers and news outlets alike decry “AI slop.” In fact, just 27% of workers said that they trust their employers to use AI appropriately, and 59% said they feel that AI is making bias worse. Only 11% of respondents to a recent Pew survey were excited about increased use of AI in daily life.  

But for marketing students, working with AI is inevitable. Survey Monkey reports that 88% of marketers already use AI for content creation, optimization, brainstorming, research, and data analysis. Marketing students, however, are keenly aware of the “digital divide,” or lack of access to cutting edge tools. Therein lies the issue: Employers need workers who are already familiar with AI technology and know how to avoid pitfalls such as bias, shoddy “AI slop” that could open companies to criticism, and even misuse that could lead to lawsuits. Students feel that they aren’t free to learn how to use AI in safe environments, like their college classrooms, and 70% of marketers report that employers don’t provide AI training.  

How can simulations help teach responsible AI use?

That’s why bridging the gap between marketing theory and practice is so important. Studies show that marketing students are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about a hands-on approach to learning AI. Simulations offer students the chance to create marketing campaigns using AI tools responsibly, asking questions and learning how to use human judgment powered by machine insights. 

Novela’s marketing simulations use first-of-its-kind technology, including AI-powered customer personas based on thousands of data insights from real customers. Students can “talk” to these personas about their preferences, learning first-hand about incorporating human judgment into the content creation process and spotting bias in AI-generated content. Novela also incorporates Ela, our AI-powered co-pilot, into every step of the simulation experience. Students can ask Ela for research and guidance. But, most importantly, simulation play means that students rely on their own marketing knowledge to launch campaigns, rather than asking ChatGPT for answers. Simulations prepare students to use AI confidently and ethically in the classroom, at internships, and in their future roles as marketers. 

As Samantha Levine, a fourth year marketing student at the Ohio State Fisher College of Business, recently explained: “I think intertwining AI will be the most valuable skill in marketing. It was beneficial having the AI assistant during the simulation since I was able to "talk" to the consumers.”

Phoebe Cosgrove, a marketing student at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, agrees, though her simulation experience gave her an even greater appreciation for the human elements of marketing. 

“I think AI can be used to streamline repetitive admin tasks and inspire ideas,” Phoebe told Novela after playing Novela’s Search Marketing (Google Ads) Simulation. “But I think it's important for things such as the creativity of campaigns; the core still comes from creative minds in order to keep authenticity and originality.”

Ready to bring hands-on AI experience to your classroom? Contact us to schedule a demo!