Seeing Difference Together: An AI Image Icebreaker to Build Peer Trust and Inclusion in Diverse Management Classrooms

Diverse management classrooms carry substantial pedagogical potential, yet that potential depends on students working across difference with curiosity rather than assumption. This article introduces Seeing Difference Together, an icebreaker designed for the opening sessions of undergraduate and postgraduate management courses. It addresses a specific problem: students enter diverse classrooms with interpretive biases, the unconscious assumptions projected onto minimal visual cues, that if left unaddressed undermine early peer trust and constrain collaboration. Using AI-generated images of ambiguous figures in everyday contexts, students move through individual observation, structured group comparison, a whole-class discussion, a four-stage guided debrief and collaborative norm-setting. The debrief guides students from noticing their own assumptions to reflecting on the meaning-making process to co-creating inclusive learning norms for teamwork in diverse classrooms. Across multiple semesters at a large urban university, tutors describe the activity as accessible, engaging and effective in fostering peer trust and psychological safety.