ChatGPT is revolutionizing the field of higher education by leveraging deep learning models to generate human-like content. However, its integration into academic settings raises concerns regarding academic integrity, plagiarism detection, and the potential impact on critical thinking skills. This article presents a study that adopts a thing ethnography approach to understand ChatGPT’s perspective on the challenges and opportunities it represents for higher education. The research explores the potential benefits and limitations of ChatGPT, as well as mitigation strategies for addressing the identified challenges. Findings emphasize the urgent need for clear policies, guidelines, and frameworks to responsibly integrate ChatGPT in higher education. It also highlights the need for empirical research to understand user experiences and perceptions. The findings provide insights that can guide future research efforts in understanding the implications of ChatGPT and similar Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in higher education. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of thing ethnography as an innovative approach for engaging with intelligent AI systems and calls for further research to explore best practices and strategies in utilizing Generative AI for educational purposes.

Industry 4.0 is predicted to significantly transform the jobs and skill profiles of workers. Implications for higher education may involve dramatic changes in the demand for knowledge and skills. In response to this, a Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) intervention was designed with the aim of developing working skills for the future of work on undergraduate students by embedding the Industry 4.0 theme in the Operations Management curricula. The CBL intervention was implemented in two different academic terms at a UK university, and views from 302 undergraduate business students were captured using document analysis. The benefits are reported in terms of knowledge acquisition and the application and development of key desirable working abilities for the future. The results suggest that CBL increases students’ understanding of Industry 4.0 issues in real-life settings. It also provides an environment for soft-skills training for skills, including collaboration, communication, planning and problem-solving. This study provides a blueprint for the implementation of CBL in the Operations Management curricula. The study validates existing findings obtained from the application of CBL in other disciplines. Whilst the proposed CBL intervention might be easily replicated in business schools in the UK, the findings on students’ experiences might not be directly generalized to other contexts or disciplines.