AI for Business – Reinforcement Learning

Catalog description

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping business processes, creating disruptive innovations that change established industries and markets beyond recognition. The emergence of powerful algorithms, combined with recent growth in computational power and availability of massive amounts of data, enable companies to operate faster, make better decisions, automate processes, maximize revenue and customer engagement, among many other advantages. In this 7-week course we will briefly discuss some of the core principles underlying AI and then focus on a few selected applications of AI in business, such as predictive analytics for maximizing marketing and financial strategies, pattern recognition to understand customer behavior, and conversational AI and chatbots to improve engagement and customer experience. Last, AI also possesses significant limitations and poses new challenges with respect to fairness, biases, and automated errors. The course will conclude with a discussion of the main ethical issues and risks associated with AI technology. Prerequisite: Calculus and ICP. Sophomore or above students. Fulfillment: BUSF Non-Finance elective; BUSM Non-Marketing elective; IMB Business elective.