Foundations of AI and Strategy

This unit introduces foundational concepts of artificial intelligence, including how AI systems learn, generative models (text and image), conversational AI, and decision-making in complex environments. It also establishes the strategic building blocks — value chain, capabilities, workforce implications, and ethical/regulatory considerations — that prepare students for deeper technical and applied work in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze core AI concepts and mechanisms by explaining how machine learning, large language models, generative image models, and decision-making systems learn, generalize, and improve over time
• Demonstrate understanding of conversational and multimodal AI by outlining system components, data flows, and common integration patterns used to build chat, voice, and image-capable applications
• Evaluate ethical, privacy, bias, and regulatory implications of AI deployments and recommend mitigation strategies and responsible-AI practices for real-world scenarios
• Apply AI strategy and value-chain principles to propose an organizational plan that aligns capabilities, roles (such as developing AI product managers), and operating models to business objectives and workforce readiness