Artificial intelligence creates business value only when it is matched to the right problem, process, data, and governance model. This course prepares current and future managers to move beyond AI hype and make practical decisions about where AI should be used, which AI approach fits the need, and how it can be implemented responsibly.
Students learn how generative AI, prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), customized GPTs, and AI agents create different forms of value. They examine when an organization needs a smarter AI advisor, when it needs a controlled system that can execute a workflow, and when a traditional process or human-led decision remains the better choice. The course also helps students assess whether the organization’s value-chain control, technological breadth, business model, operating model, data, and people are prepared to support the proposed AI initiative.
Upon completing the course, students will be able to:
- Identify business processes and decisions where AI can create measurable value;
- Design prompts that improve the quality, consistency, and usefulness of AI-generated outputs;
- Use advanced prompting methods to examine competing options, test reliability, critique recommendations, and explain assumptions and uncertainty;
- Determine when organizational knowledge should be connected to AI through file grounding or RAG;
- Build specialized GPTs that package organizational expertise into reusable business advisors;
- Design agentic workflows that use reasoning, tools, memory, decision branches, and human approval;
- Align AI ambition with the organization’s value chain, technological capabilities, operating model, and readiness for change;
- Develop practical measures for time savings, decision quality, consistency, customer experience, risk reduction, and organizational learning;
- Establish controls for privacy, transparency, bias, accountability, human review, auditing, and remediation;
- Communicate clear, board-ready recommendations about AI adoption, implementation, and scale.
Currently being offered in Fall 2026