Mumbai, July 6 -- It's back to the classroom for senior company executives these days. This time, to the school of artificial intelligence (AI).

Preeti Nayyar, chief operating officer at music media firm Billboard India, has built a career by constantly upgrading her skills and knowledge.

"Whatever you study as a 21- or 22-year-old can only take you this far," said Nayyar, 48.

In fiscal year 2017 (FY17), she took a sabbatical from The Walt Disney Company in India to do a senior leadership programme at Harvard Business School. Last year, the same curiosity sent her back, this time to the Indian School of Business (ISB), for a five-month online course on advanced leadership with AI.

"Everybody was claiming to know something about AI," s...