With the increasing interest on artificial intelligence (AI) I decided to do a bit of research and also learn and get an accreditation. I already have a general idea of the general technical concepts of AI tech and the research work done by DeepMind, IBM, Google and of course Microsoft. I deliberately wanted to look at how businesses could or could not benefit from AI.

After doing a bit of research I settled on doing a course/specialisation via the Coursera platform and picked the AI For Business Strategy Specialization from University of Pennsylvania‘s Wharton School of Business.

The AI and Business Strategy Specialization is a program that focuses on integrating AI into business strategy planning. It includes courses on AI fundamentals for non-data scientists, AI applications in marketing and finance, people management, and AI strategy and governance.

I liked the format as it was not technical rather focused on business value creation and the instructors had some great references.

• Course director: Kartik Hosanagar + 7 instructors across domains (HR, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Data Analytics)​
• 4 Courses to complete​
  • 4 Modules each per course – Quiz exam and written submission at end of each module​
• One final project to submit at completion for Specialization credit​
   

The 4 courses​ in the specialisation

• AI Fundamentals for Non-Data Scientists​
• AI Applications in Marketing and Finance​
• AI Applications in People Management​
• AI Strategy and Governance

The learnings and insights were a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience covering a range of topics across Data Science, Marketing and Finance, People Management and HR and finally concluding with creating a business strategy map for AI.

Key learnings in a nutshell

• Going beyond AI basics requires technical domain skills​
  • Applicability in Business requires Business domain knowledge​ (no surprises here)
• Not everything & everyone is ready for AI​
• Most companies who start in early AI projects will not see significant business gains​
  • Companies should focus on long term incremental value creation​
  • Companies who want to invest in AI will need to focus on small incremental projects (control the outcome, repeat, adapt)​
• Skilling executives on AI fundamentals needs to be a high priority​
• AI ethics will be an ongoing challenge/opportunity​
• Existing project delivery processes will need to be adapted to rapid change/pivot in AI advancements​

Highly recommend Kartik Hosanagar‘s book “A Human’s Guide to Machine Intelligence”