Shaping the future of business
Preparing Leaders for the AI-powered future of business
Seattle is a global hub for artificial intelligence, and the Foster School is uniquely positioned at the intersection of AI’s transformative potential and its business applications. We equip students, faculty, and industry partners with the knowledge, tools, and ethical foundation to lead in an AI-driven world.
About AI at Foster
At the Foster School of Business, artificial intelligence represents a defining strategic priority. As AI reshapes the business landscape, Foster is advancing innovation in leadership education, research, and industry collaboration. Our AI strategy spans four pillars:
Teaching
Research
Knowledge
Dissemination
Operational
Effectiveness
AI in the Curriculum
Across every program, Foster integrates AI into coursework, projects, and research. Empowering students to think critically about technology’s business, ethical, and societal impact.
Faculty across disciplines are embedding AI literacy and ethics into the core of every Foster program.
From predictive analytics to AI-powered customer insights, MSIS students bring classroom learning to life.
Courses led by Professor Keskin equip students to make data-driven decisions with AI as a strategic advantage.
Foster AI Learning Objectives
To lead in an AI-powered world, Foster students build essential competencies that integrate technology with business. The areas below highlight how every Foster student develops fluency in AI, ensuring they can responsibly apply tools, think critically about impact, and drive innovation across industries.
Explain core AI concepts
Every Foster student can demonstrate foundational knowledge of artificial intelligence, including data analytics, machine learning, and generative AI. Even though managers do not build models and systems, they need to know how they work and what they can and cannot do. AI technical fluency is necessary alongside the fundamental business competencies of management, finance, accounting, marketing, information systems and operations.
Apply AI tools for business productivity
Every Foster student can proficiently use AI-powered tools to enhance decision-making, communication, and operational efficiency. The modern workplace is embracing AI and all employees need to use generic and custom tools to accelerate and automate workflows.
Design AI-enabled business solutions
Every Foster student can work across disciplines to design AI-infused products, services, or processes that solve real business problems. AI is not the end goal but rather a toolbox to design customer experiences and solve business challenges that were previously unsolvable. Managers need to know which tool to use for different use cases.
Evaluate AI’s strategic business impact
Every Foster student can assess how AI is transforming industries, business models, and competitive advantages across sectors. Given this technological revolution, managers need to develop change management strategies for AI adoption, including culture, stakeholder alignment, training, and organizational readiness.
Assess AI ethics
Every Foster student can identify ethical risks, algorithmic bias, and apply responsible AI frameworks in business contexts. To do so, managers must understand fundamental moral principles, emerging laws, data privacy regulations, and global AI governance trends affecting business strategy.
Cultivate lifelong AI learning mindsets
Every Foster student is hungry for continuous learning, experimentation, and adaptability in response to evolving AI technologies.
Faculty Research features
Foster faculty are advancing the frontier of AI applications in business—spanning finance, marketing, operations, accounting, and organizational behavior.
AI in the Driver’s Seat? Research Examines Human-AI Decision-Making Dynamics
Can You Trust AI with Life and Death Decisions?
AI and Inclusion
More Research from Foster faculty
“Generative AI in Financial Reporting”; “Generative AI and Investor Processing of Financial Information”, Beth Blankespoor
“LOLA: LLM-Assisted Online Learning Algorithm” (Marketing Science); “Balancing Engagement and Polarization” (Working Paper), Hema Yoganarasimhan
“The Crowdless Future? Generative AI and Creative Problem-Solving” (Organization Science); “Human-AI Collaboration in Ethical Decision-Making”, Léonard Boussioux
“No-Regret Learning in Two-Echelon Supply Chains with Unknown Demand Distribution”, Shi Chen
Faculty Pioneers in the Age of AI
Foster’s AI Ambassadors lead pioneering research and teaching initiatives that examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping business and society. Together, they embody Foster’s commitment to preparing leaders who understand, apply, and shape the role of AI in the world.
AI in Action: Building the Future of Business Education
Tayfun Keskin is developing comprehensive AI education resources for Foster, including teaching cases for a forthcoming AI textbook, AI-powered modules for graduate courses in project management and product leadership, and hands-on workshops for BITS students. Building on his research on human-AI collaboration and Foster’s first generative AI programming assignment—now adopted school-wide—his work aims to elevate hundreds of students’ AI capabilities each year and position Foster as a pioneer in practical AI business education.
Strategic Reasoning in the Age of Large Language Models
Mana Heshmati’s research examines how large language models (LLMs) reshape managerial cognition and strategic decision-making. Her findings provide evidence-based guidance on when LLMs enhance versus undermine human reasoning, and how collaboration structures can preserve independent human judgment. Her work reveals that LLMs tend to amplify users’ preexisting beliefs in strategic decisions—highlighting the importance of using the right theoretical framework—and that excessive delegation or lenient screening of AI output can diminish subsequent decision quality, even after brief exposure.
AI for Good: Designing Chatbots for Accessible Mental Health Support
Elina Hwang and Stephanie Lee explore how artificial intelligence can drive positive social impact. One project develops AI chatbots designed to make mental health support more personalized and accessible. Another investigates how AI-generated explanations can improve misinformation labeling and help reduce the spread of false information across digital platforms.
AI and Venture Capital: Understanding the New Investment Landscape
Lea Stern’s AI-focused research bridges academia and industry impact. Her current projects include using machine learning to analyze venture capital allocation and leading an Anthropic-supported study, “Who Funds the Frontier?”, which maps the investors backing breakthrough AI. She has helped shape global dialogue around AI in finance by co-organizing the AI & Big Data in Finance Forum for three consecutive years, and will soon help launch a new junior-scholar AI series. Beyond Foster, Lea shares her expertise through guest lectures and media interviews and contributes to the year-long Longitudinal Expert AI Panel (LEAP) survey. As an AI Ambassador, she aims to bring leading-edge AI perspectives to the Foster community.
AI-Enhanced Experimentation and Consumer Trust
Zikun Ye designs large language model (LLM) systems that transform unstructured text into decision-grade insights for market research, experimentation, and consumer trust. His work includes developing LLM-based algorithms that accelerate market research and A/B testing, and quantifying how AI influences consumer risk perception to inform business strategy.
Léonard Boussioux develops methods that democratize expert-level problem-solving by combining generative AI, operations research, and large-scale experimentation. His 2024 Organization Science paper, one of the journal’s most widely read worldwide, demonstrated how strategic human-AI collaboration can reduce costs by 99 percent while improving solution quality. Building on this research, his AI-driven review system now helps MIT Solve streamline the evaluation of thousands of social-impact startups, allowing experts to focus on creativity and impact while dramatically shortening the screening cycle. At Foster, he leads GenAI bootcamps and graduate courses that train hundreds of students and industry professionals to accelerate innovation and decision-making with generative AI.
Join the Conversation: AI Events at Foster
Foster hosts a dynamic calendar of events that connect students, faculty, and industry on the most pressing AI questions.
Event Spotlight: Global AI Summit
Full-time MBA students participate in Foster’s first AI Bootcamp, led by Professor Léonard Boussioux.
In March 2025, Foster hosted the UW Foster Global AI Summit, bringing together faculty, students, and industry leaders to explore the future of AI and human-centered innovation. The event featured keynote speakers, panel discussions, and student presentations — positioning Foster as a hub for responsible AI leadership. Read the recap.
Ongoing AI Events & Opportunities
AI Hackathons
Cross-campus competitions where students tackle real-world challenges using AI tools.
Lunch & Learn Series
Faculty and staff share hands-on use cases of AI in teaching, research, and operations.
Industry & Alumni Salons
Invite-only gatherings with tech leaders and Foster alumni shaping AI innovation.
MSIS Demo Day
Annual spring showcase of student-designed AI solutions.