Session 1 Diagnostic

In your own words, what is the difference between a large language model and an AI agent? Don't look it up. Write what you know as of today.

3–4 sentences

A company deploys an AI tool that employees adopt enthusiastically in the first 90 days. By month six, usage has dropped by 70%. From the list below, rank the three most likely causes in order.

1 = most likely, 3 = least likely among your three — leave the rest blank.

What is "shadow AI"?

If you know the term, define it. If you don't, take a guess based on what the words suggest to you.

Describe the most interesting or significant thing you have personally observed about how an organization uses — or fails to use — AI. This can be from work, an internship, a family business, a campus organization, or anywhere else.

Be specific: what organization, what tool or initiative, what happened, what struck you about it. Your instructors keep secrets!

Have you ever personally used an AI tool to do something that your organization or institution officially didn't sanction or know about?

Think about a leader you've observed — a manager, executive, professor, or anyone in a position of organizational authority — and how they responded to an AI-related decision or moment. Describe what they did and what it told you about how leaders actually think about AI.

You don't need to name them. One specific behavior or decision is more useful than a general characterization.

A mid-size healthcare company spends $2 million on an AI diagnostic tool for its clinical staff. Eighteen months later, only 12% of eligible clinicians are using it regularly. The vendor's post-implementation report blames "change fatigue and user resistance." The CIO blames the vendor for overpromising. The clinical staff say the tool doesn't fit how they actually work.

Who is most right — and more importantly, what question would you ask first if you were brought in to fix it?

2–4 sentences

You are a mid-level manager at a company that has just announced a major AI transformation initiative. Your team of eight is skeptical — not hostile, just unconvinced. You have no authority to mandate adoption and no budget to offer incentives.

What do you do in the first two weeks? Be specific.

3–4 sentences

Complete the following sentences honestly.

First instinct is more valuable than careful wording (at this point of the term).

In the field or function you're headed toward, what do you believe is the single most consequential thing AI will change in the next five years?

Not the most talked-about thing — the most consequential.

What is the specific role you imagine playing in AI transformation at an organization — not the job title, but the actual work and function?

Examples: the person who translates between technical teams and business units; the person who figures out why adoption is stalling; the person who builds the business case; the person who manages the politics.

Name one assumption you're bringing into this course that you suspect this course might challenge. Be honest.

Mark where you currently sit — and where you want to be by the end of the course.

"My ability to lead an AI transformation initiative in a real organization right now is…"