Foundations of AI for Business

This unit introduces core AI concepts, how AI learns and operates across modalities (text, vision, decision-making), and the major technical building blocks and value chain that enable AI solutions. It also examines strategic applications, workforce implications, ethics, bias, regulation, and privacy to prepare students to responsibly design and manage AI initiatives in business contexts.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze core AI concepts and mechanisms (including learning processes, LLMs, conversational AI, image generation, and decision systems) and explain how they function within the AI value chain
• Apply principles of AI strategy and capability development to map business problems to appropriate AI approaches and technical building blocks
• Demonstrate understanding of ethical considerations, bias sources, privacy concerns, and regulatory impacts by identifying risks and proposing concrete mitigation strategies for business use cases
• Evaluate the impact of generative AI on workforce roles and operating models and propose actionable readiness or reskilling recommendations for teams transitioning to human+AI workflows