AI for Leaders
About the program
There is no lack of conversation, news, and insight about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on business. This immersive program will start by providing participants with a foundational overview of what AI is (and isn’t), where it comes from, how it works, how it is being used in business today, and what’s coming next. The program will focus on two powerful branches of AI - Predictive Machine Learning and Generative AI - and will include in-class activities to explore these concepts.
Leaders will learn to transform their organizations by integrating analytics and AI into their operations. The focus on improving the success rate of AI projects and applying learned concepts to actual business use-cases sets this program apart, providing leaders with actionable insights and tools to drive their organizations forward.
Participants will explore and leverage the cutting-edge capabilities of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and under expert guidance, they will tackle business-specific scenarios, learning how AI can streamline workflows, enhance data-driven decision-making, and create new value propositions.
In this program you will learn to:
- Define AI and explain the benefits, limitations, and trade-offs of its main techniques
- Understand both the strategic and tactical aspects of implementing AI initiatives
- Iteratively improve analytics and AI initiatives
- Develop principles for ideating, evaluating, and deploying analytics and AI opportunities
- Use a framework to increase the success rate of AI and analytics projects
- Apply learned concepts to real-world use-cases from your own organization
- Understand Generative AI Tools
- Apply AI to different business scenarios
- Enhance and customize AI models
- Prototype AI solutions
- Gain a comprehensive understanding of responsible and ethical AI principles
- Learn specific tools for thinking through the design of ethical AI systems
- Apply ethical principles to real-world case studies based on actual data
- Develop strategies for implementing and maintaining ethical AI practices in your organization
Available via live, in-person delivery
Attend the program in an immersive, in-person environment at the Donald Gordon Conference Centre, located in Kingston, Ontario, adjacent to the Queen's University campus.
Who should attend
Managers, executives, and business leaders of any kind, within any functional area, sector, and industry.
Discounts Available
Registered Charities
Queen’s Executive Education is pleased to offer a limited number of discounted seats in every program to employees of Canadian registered charities. Check your eligibility to receive a registered charity discount
Volume Discounts
Queen’s Executive Education is pleased to offer a 15% discount for organizations that pre-pay for five or more seats on any of our programs within a 12-month period. Check your eligibility to receive a volume discount
A Recognized Symbol of Excellence
Participants who complete the program earn the AI for Leaders digital badge credential.
Personal Benefits
- Gain an introductory understanding of AI fundamentals
- Learn practical AI applications for strategic integration into business operations
- Stay informed about emerging trends and future advancements in AI
- Improve AI project success rates
- Launch AI-based ventures through practical frameworks and real-world examples
- Learn how to manage risks and foster a culture of data-driven decision-making
- Learn how to automate workflows and enhance complex decision-making, driving business innovation and efficiency
- Gain a deep understanding of responsible and ethical AI principles and practical tools for designing ethical AI decision-making systems
- Learn how to implement ethical AI practices in your organization
Organizational Benefits
- Equip leaders with a comprehensive understanding of AI, enabling them to drive innovation and enhance operational efficiency
- Responsibly adopt AI technologies, ensuring a competitive edge and sustainable growth
- Access to strategies and frameworks that will successfully integrate analytics and AI into operations, reducing the risk of project failures
- Identification of valuable AI opportunities
- Proficiency in generative AI tools, leading to streamlined workflows, enhanced decision-making, and innovative business solutions
- Automation of routine tasks and the strategic use of AI for creating new value propositions
- Gain leaders with the knowledge and tools to develop fair, responsible, and ethical AI systems, fostering trust and sustainability in AI-driven decision-making processes
Program content
Day 1
Participants will gain an understanding of the fundamental building blocks of modern AI systems – data science and machine learning, including:
- AI definitions, types of analytics and types of learning
- An overview of analytics and AI use-cases in various industries
- Current state of AI and what is on the horizon
- Exploration of the contemporary landscape of generative AI and its transformative impact on business operations
- Guidelines for integrating this powerful technology into business strategies for improved efficiency and enhanced competitiveness
- Potential risks and common pitfalls associated with generative AI to enable a balanced understanding of both good and bad use cases
- Emerging trends and the exciting possibilities that the next wave of AI advancements holds for the business world
Days 2 & 3
Over the course of these two days, participants will:
- Examine a case study of a legacy firm that transformed itself into a data and AI driven organization
- Discuss principles for ideating and evaluating analytics and AI opportunities
- Explore how managers can improve the success of their investments in analytics and AI
- Learn a framework to creatively identify opportunities and to thoughtfully evaluate and plan analytics and AI initiatives
- Review main concepts and apply them to use-cases from their organizations
- Take a pragmatic approach to initiating and launching new AI-based business ventures
- Learn how to run controlled experiments in their organization, considering both the technical and cultural challenges
- Review how to control risks and maximize learning when launching new products and services
- Discuss how to foster a culture of data-driven decision-making at the executive level
Day 4
This AI “empowerment” session will foster experimentation, empowering leaders to ideate and prototype AI-driven solutions tailored to their industries. Participants will:
- Explore the cutting-edge capabilities of generative AI tools like ChatGPT
- Gain insights they can apply to their business into how AI can streamline workflows, enhance data-driven decision-making, and forge new value propositions
- Learn key elements and tactics for effective prompt engineering and discuss how to enhance pre-trained large language models with internal knowledge base to enable more relevant and trustworthy information retrieval
- Discover how to automate routine tasks and enhance complex decision-making through the strategic use of generative AI tools
Day 5
What do leaders need to know to facilitate the development of fair, responsible and ethical AI systems in their organizations? In this session, participants will:
- Learn the principles of responsible and ethical AI and apply those principles to several detailed case studies based on real data
- Uncover the tools to think through the design of ethical AI initiatives and practice these tools within the context of the cases
- Reflect on how these tools can be utilized in their organizations
In-Person Learning
Learn alongside fellow participants from across the country, discovering best practices that span industries and sectors.
Our in-person programs include classroom learning sessions led by award-winning Smith School of Business professors and industry experts. Practice new skills in breakout sessions, projects and simulations, and apply your learning toward real-world case studies.
Kingston - Donald Gordon Conference Centre
The Donald Gordon Conference Centre combines the amenities of a full service conference and event centre with the elegance and charm of Kingston’s historic limestone architecture.
Our conference and meeting rooms have been designed to create a comfortable and relaxed working environment, and private guest rooms offer a broad range of amenities.
Session Leaders
Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.
Murray Lei is an Assistant Professor of Management Analytics and a Distinguished Research Fellow at Smith School of Business, Queen's University. His research focuses on developing data-driven frameworks that enable companies to make dynamic decisions under uncertainty. Additionally, he investigates how data-driven analytics can be aligned with societal values, particularly in the areas of privacy, fairness, and sustainability.
Murray’s research has been published in top-tier peer-reviewed academic journals and is supported by various funding agencies. His achievements have been recognized through multiple awards, including the New Researcher Achievement Award. He has collaborated with leading global tech companies such as Alibaba, Instacart, Flipkart, Staples, and Oracle Retail Labs, where he has contributed to developing real-time, large-scale analytics solutions.
Murray’s teaching interests span Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, and Revenue Management. He has extensive experience teaching these subjects across various academic levels, including professional graduate programs (such as Master's in Management Analytics), research-based graduate programs (M.Sc. and Ph.D.), and undergraduate courses.
With a unique ability to present technical topics in an easy-to-understand and inspiring way, Steve is a sought-after professor and AI expert at Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business. He leads both introductory and expert-level courses on multiple aspects of AI in undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs. He has been selected by students in the Master of Management Analytics as MMA Professor of the Year for the last three years running.
Holding PhD, MSc, and BSc degrees in Computer Science, Steve’s research focuses on analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing. His work has been published in leading journals including IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Empirical Software Engineering, and others. In recognition of his work in the analytics and AI space, he was awarded a prestigious Scotiabank Scholar research grant.
Beyond teaching and research, Steve has run a big data startup company and conducted industrial operations research at Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor and commercial electronics company. He regularly consults with a wide range of organizations on the application of AI for best business outcomes.
Upcoming Sessions
421 Union Street
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