100828 - Building with AI-From Friction to Innovation

Overview

Participants bring a real business problem and leave with a working AI-powered prototype they built during the session. Led by Dave Townsend, Digges Professor of Entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech, this workshop moves beyond AI literacy into AI creation — no coding experience required.

The three-hour session follows a friction-to-prototype pipeline: participants identify a high-value business friction, structure it through AI-assisted planning, and build a functional solution using conversational AI tools.
Participants may work solo or in small teams of two to three. The diversity of projects — dashboards, automation tools, decision-support systems, customer-facing applications — is intentional, demonstrating that the process generalizes across industries and roles.

This is the Level 2 workshop in Pamplin’s progressive AI curriculum. Level 1 introduces the mindset shift; Level 2 develops the hands-on capability to build. Participants leave with a working prototype, a repeatable innovation process, and a 30-day action plan for continued development.

Participants will leave with:
• A functional AI-powered prototype addressing a real problem from their work
• A repeatable framework — friction capture, AI-assisted structuring, iterative building, refinement — applicable immediately to new problems
• Direct experience building with AI, establishing a new personal baseline for what is possible
• A 30-day action plan for continued development

Participants should have previously completed our Level 1 webinar or have equivalent familiarity with AI tools. No programming experience is required. A laptop with internet access required.

The program is provided in partnership with Pamplin College of Business.

Fee Information

Flexible Pricing Options

• Single Course: $295
• Any Two Courses: $550 (save $40)
• Full Program (3 Courses): $795 (save $90)

✔ Complete all three courses to earn an additional AI for Executives Certificate Badge(👈click here for more information)
✔ Discounts are automatically applied at checkout when courses are added to your cart

Agenda/Schedule

May 29, 2026
Class will be held via Zoom from 1-4 p.m.

Applies Towards the Following Certificates/Programs

• AI for Executives : Building with AI