AI Foundations

2-0-1 units · Graduate

Introduces students to the capabilities, limits, and managerial implications of modern generative AI. Explores how large language models actually produce outputs and how managers should decide when and how to use them. Topics include: frontier model architectures, reasoning versus non-reasoning systems, prompting and evaluation, responsible-use policy at MIT and in professional settings, productivity workflows, and the science of cognitive outsourcing. Class sessions combine short lectures with live demonstrations and exercises on current frontier tools, building a shared baseline of AI fluency that students carry into the rest of the MBA curriculum. Includes an extended lab and a structured discussion of cognitive-outsourcing frameworks applied to students' own work contexts. Restricted to Evening MBA students.