Industrial Engineering and Management Students Envision AI's Role in the Industry

This study explores the perceptions of master's program students in Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) at Umeå University, Sweden, concerning the current and future impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on their discipline. Employing a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design, we collected quantitative data from participants asked to assess AI's influence on decision-making, human-computer interactions, and information management, among other areas. While ordinal regression analysis revealed no significant correlation between the student's academic year and their survey responses, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant belief that AI's impact on all surveyed areas would intensify within the next decade. Our findings suggest a need for engineering education to evolve to adequately equip future professionals for the expanding influence of AI in IEM. Furthermore, the results add to the ongoing discussion of AI's role in engineering education and the broader industrial engineering and management field.