Kliman acknowledged that this kind of disruption sometimes creates fear and resistance to change, like many past technological shifts.
“So the question becomes, what do we get to do now that AI can do a lot of these other things?” he asked. “I’m able to be creative. I’m able to be strategic.”
Kliman referenced a recent Harvard Business School study that showed that professionals enjoyed working with AI as a teammate, because they saved time and were able to be more creative while improving the quality of their work.
“Upskilling must focus on how to work with AI, not fight it,” he said. “And it’s no longer a luxury. It’s a survival strategy. If you’re not upskilling your workforce, you’re setting yourself up for a hard cliff at some point.”
Kliman urged attendees to use AI tools for high-friction, repetitive, boring tasks. “Shift from fear to curiosity,” he said, encouraging leaders to support a culture of exploration and experimentation with multiple AI tools.
“Use AI to rediscover your best work,” he said.
Panel discussion: “Driving AI-powered transformation across data, operations and workflows: Use cases, opportunities, and challenges for industry”
Raghu Sangwan, associate chief academic officer and director of Great Valley’s engineering programs, introduced a panel of leaders who shared how they are deploying AI to transform their workflows and operations.
- Rina Desai, principal/owner at Eigen X and alumna of Great Valley’s MBA program, shared how her company implemented an agentic AI solution for a client that reduced customer service call volume and increased revenue.
- Shane Flickinger, COO at Chester County Hospital, described AI-powered ambient listening that captures data from patient conversations and enters it into electronic health records, reducing the time clinicians spend documenting visits.
- Aaron Proietti, founder and CEO at Today’s Innovator, discussed using AI to help a community organization with strategic planning by transcribing and analyzing interview data.
- Chris Saello, president and CEO of Chester County United Way, shared how Penn State Great Valley students developed AI concepts and strategic recommendations for nonprofits. The students proposed an AI-enabled translation service for a nonprofit transportation organization serving people with limited English skills who needed help communicating with drivers. The nonprofit implemented this idea to help increase ridership.
“Any organization looking to deploy AI has to do their due diligence,” said panel moderator Sally Sue Richmond, assistant teaching professor of information science. “However, you're not alone. There are experts that can help you. … We are not your standard ivory tower campus. We're embedded in an office setting in a corporate park. So, again, you have experts that you can rely on to help you get started.”
Youakim Badr, professor of data analytics and AI and professor in charge of the Master of AI degree program, cautioned participants against the mistake of focusing on the technology when starting to integrate AI into business operations. “Focus first on the problem,” he said, outlining four steps to AI implementation:
- Define the challenge you want to solve.
- Assess your organization’s data readiness — how reliable and accessible is it?
- Start small with pilot projects and prototypes, which reduce risks.
- Assess the impact of the AI initiative and iterate. One-time deployment is not enough.
As an example of effective AI deployment, Badr pointed to industries such as health care and finance using AI to assess risks and address regulatory pressures.
“AI can continuously analyze a large volume of data,” he said. “And this has helped to predict any vulnerabilities or any potential gaps in compliance.”
In the classes he and other faculty members teach, Badr said, “professional employees work on projects they define themselves, directly tied to their professional contexts.” Professors ask students to bring their own problems to the classroom, where they can develop a solution and share the results with their employers.
“The partnerships between Penn State Great Valley and industry are not simply academic collaborations. They are engines for innovation,” Badr said. “We combine the teaching with research and services.”
He mentioned a sponsored capstone project his data analytics students completed in translational medical research. PhenoMx, a digital health company, commissioned students to examine medical imaging data and build an analytical pipeline to promote early detection of cognitive decline leading to Alzheimer’s disease.
Badr also mentioned sponsored consulting engagements, such as his collaboration with Kreischer Miller, an accounting and tax firm, to assist their clients in the mid-sized manufacturing sector. Badr and two of his graduate students conducted extensive research on the applications and implications of generative AI in mid-sized manufacturing, from product design and development to supply chain optimization and predictive maintenance. The students gained experience while offering practical insights into how AI could revolutionize manufacturing by enhancing efficiency, reducing costs and fostering innovation.