University of Mary Washington — MS in AI in Business
Build AI solutions for real business problems
GBUS 563 is the applied core of the MS in AI in Business: eight weeks, fully asynchronous, one hands-on build per week across marketing, customer service, operations, and finance — culminating in a capstone AI solution you design, defend, and pitch for an organization you know.
- 3 graduate credits · 8-week session · 100% asynchronous
- Seven applied labs plus a capstone solution
- Platform-neutral: Claude, ChatGPT, and no-code tools
This site is the course learning environment for enrolled GBUS 563 students. New accounts are approved against the course roster; all grades and official submissions live in Canvas.
Meet Anand.AI, your course guide
Anand.AI learns your role, industry, and goals on day one, then frames every week around your work — debriefing each lab, pressure-testing your capstone framing, and connecting course frameworks to your organization. It coaches and questions; it never grades you, never writes your deliverables, and the course teaches you to verify everything it says.
Eight weeks, eight builds
Each week pairs one business function with a working build. The first half covers the core functions; the second half integrates them into assistants and agents, responsible deployment, and your capstone.
Framing AI Solutions for Business
Lab: AI Opportunity Audit
AI for Marketing and Sales
Lab: AI-assisted campaign engine
AI for Customer Service and Experience
Lab: Customer-service assistant · capstone proposal
AI for Operations and Process Automation
Lab: End-to-end workflow automation
AI for Finance and Decision Support
Lab: AI-assisted financial analysis
Building Integrated Solutions: Assistants and Agents
Lab: Custom assistant or agent prototype
Responsible Deployment: Risk, Governance, and Change
Lab: Governance, risk, and ROI assessment
Capstone: From Prototype to Pitch
Lab: Prototype, solution report, recorded pitch
How the course works
One steady weekly rhythm
Modules open Monday morning. You watch short lecture segments, work through curated readings, post to the discussion by Thursday, and finish the week's hands-on lab by Sunday. The rhythm never changes, so the course fits around a working professional's week.
Build something every week
Every week pairs one business function with a working build: a campaign engine, a service assistant, an automated workflow, a financial analysis package. Labs are drafted here in a structured workspace, then submitted in Canvas, where all grading lives.
A capstone you can take to work
From Week 3 you design an AI solution for an organization you know: proposal, aligned prototype, governance and ROI assessment, and an executive pitch. The weekly Capstone Corner keeps it moving so nothing is left for the final weekend.
Designed around a working professional's week
Asynchronous, never absent
No required live meetings: short captioned videos, time-budgeted readings, and labs you can complete anywhere on free-tier tools. Instructor presence is scheduled into every week — a Monday kickoff, active discussion engagement, and feedback within five days of each deadline.
Accessible by design
The platform targets WCAG 2.1 AA throughout: full keyboard navigation with visible focus, screen-reader-labeled controls, transcripts and captions for media, readable text alternatives for every status indicator, and reduced-motion support. AI tutorials work in both voice and keyboard modes.
Enrolled this term? Start with Week 0.
Create your account, meet Anand.AI, set up your AI tool accounts, and walk through the orientation module — so Week 1 starts with building, not setup.