Generative AI in Business: Applications, Challenges, Ethics, and Governance
This expanded course, now delivered over four half-day sessions, offers a deeper exploration of prompt engineering and agentic workflows. Building on the foundational material, the course is designed to examine the emerging use of Generative AI (GenAI) in business, with a particular focus on its application in data analytics. Participants will delve into the fundamental concepts of generative models, such as GPT, BERT and diffusion, and examine their capabilities in various domains including translation, classification, text and image generation, and more. This course also includes critical discussions on the governance and ethics of GenAI systems, addressing the societal, ethical, and regulatory implications of these technologies.
Overview
- Format: 4 live online sessions (3.5 hours each) with a live instructor, held over two weeks
- Total Time Commitment: 14 hours
- Certificate: Certificate of Completion provided
- Audience: No prior experience required
- Mode: Virtual via Zoom
- Course Fee: $1095
Dates & Times
- Session 1: Monday, August 24, 2026
- Session 2: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
- Session 2: Monday, August 31, 2026
- Session 2: Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Instruction + Q&A is 12:45 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET
Each sessions begins and ends with Q&A.
Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Generative AI
- Understanding Generative AI (GenAI)
- Evolution of AI Models
- Overview of Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPT) and Their Impact
2. Foundational Concepts
- Transformer Models: Encoder, Decoder, and Attention Mechanisms
- The basics of how the models work (tokens, embedding space)
3. Generative AI Applications
- Text Generation
- Summarization
- Translation and Classification
- AI in Creative Arts: From Text to Images
4. Models and Platforms
- Overview of Current Generative AI Models (ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity, Llama, etc.)
- Opensource Models: Introduction to Hugging Face and the Open LLM Leaderboard
- Comparative Analysis of GenAI Platforms
5. Prompt Engineering and Applications
- Zero-shot and Few-shot Learning
- Chain-of-thought (CoT) Prompting
- Role-based and Temperature Settings in AI Prompts
- Advanced Prompt Engineering for Complex Scenarios
6. Agentic Workflows
- Understanding Agentic Workflows and AI Agents
- Introduction to Agent-Driven Workflows
- Creating Multi-Step Automated Processes with Generative AI
- Survey of Agentic AI Tools
7. Governance and Ethics of Generative AI Systems
- Understanding the Ethical Implications of GenAI
- Governance Frameworks for AI
- Ethics, Privacy, Bias, and Fairness in AI Models
- Regulatory and Societal Impacts
8. Demonstrations and Hands-on Sessions
- Various GenAI Tools
- Data Analysis
- Integrating GenAI in Workflow (Copilot - Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
- Building Custom GPTs/Agents for Specific Tasks
9. Business Use-Case Examples
- Discussion and Demonstration of Projects That Apply Generative AI Techniques to Real-World Data Analytics Problems
- Practical Implications of GenAI Technologies
10. Conclusion and Future Directions
- Reflection on the Potentials and Limitations of GenAI
- Discussion on the Future Trends in AI Technologies
Additional Information
- A good internet connection and dual screens are recommended to maximize the learning experience.
- Meeting invite, Zoom link and class materials will be sent to registered attendees approximately 3-5 days before the class.
A Certificate of Completion is provided with this course showing number of contact hours and field of study as "Information Technology" for continuing education purposes. This course provides 14 contact hours and is equivalent to 1.4 CEUs.
Instructor
Jeff Shaffer
Jeffrey Shaffer is the Director of AI Strategy, the Kirk and Jacki Perry Professor of Analytics, and Assistant Professor-Educator at the University of Cincinnati in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, where he was awarded the 2025 Michael L. Dean Excellence in Classroom Education and Learning Graduate Teaching Award. He is a 2026 Google Higher Education AI Fellow and a 2026 Ronald J. Dornoff Fellow of Teaching Excellence. He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of IT and Analytics at Unifund and Recovery Decision Science. He is one of thirty-six people in the world inducted into the Tableau Visionary Hall of Fame, hosts the award-winning podcast Chart Chat, and is the co-author of The Big Book of Dashboards and Dashboards That Deliver.