The GenAI Socratic Arena: "Business Debating Game" via GenAI-Powered Multi-Agent Systems for Cultivating Entrepreneurial Mindset and Communication Excellence

This project proposes the development and deployment of the "GenAI Socratic Arena," an AI-driven pedagogical platform designed to scale the Principal Investigator’s award-winning "Business Debating Game." In the current educational landscape, cultivating an "Entrepreneur Mindset"—characterized by critical thinking, agility, and persuasive communication—is paramount. While the PI’s existing manual debating game has successfully engaged students by simulating real-world business decision-making, its scalability is constrained by the limitations of synchronous classroom time and the high faculty-to-student ratio required for effective moderation.The "GenAI Socratic Arena" transcends these limitations by leveraging advanced Generative AI and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). The project will develop autonomous "Debating Agents" capable of role-plGenerative AIaying diverse, realistic business stakeholders—such as a risk-averse CFO, an aggressive Marketing Director, or an ESG-focused Sustainability Officer. These agents will engage students in real-time, text-based or voice-based debates on complex marketing topics, utilizing Chain-of-Thought (CoT) reasoning to provide rigorous, Socratic challenges to student arguments.Crucially, this initiative operationalizes the PI’s "Sustainable Cycle of Interactive Education" philosophy. It integrates the PI’s frontier research (e.g., ESG marketing) into the AI’s knowledge base via Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), ensuring students debate against evidence-based scenarios. Furthermore, Ph.D. students will be employed as "Prompt Engineers" and "Pedagogical Architects," fulfilling the cycle’s mandate to link postgraduate research training with undergraduate teaching enhancement. The system will provide instant, granular feedback on "Efficient Communication" and logical coherence, effectively acting as a 24/7 personalized debate coach.This project directly aligns with CityUHK’s strategic focus on "Technology-enhanced curriculum" and "GenAI for learning and teaching". By transitioning from a manual to an AI-enhanced delivery mode, the project aims to democratize access to high-level critical inquiry training, significantly improving students' ability to navigate the complexities of the modern business environment.