Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a technological system that may replace human intelligence. This course offers a different perspective. AI is examined as a form of intellectual capital that extends human capability and reshapes institutions, governance, and economic systems.

Using a six-capital framework consisting of human, intellectual, structural, physical, financial, and ethical capital, the course explores how AI influences organizations, education, public institutions, and society. The focus is not only on technological performance but on the human formation, ethical governance, and institutional design required for AI to support long-term human flourishing.

Participants examine how AI alters the architecture of work, authority, and knowledge while remaining dependent on human judgment, responsibility, and ethical leadership.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will learn to:

• Understand AI as intellectual capital rather than artificial intelligence alone
• Analyze AI through a six-capital framework
• Evaluate governance and institutional risks in AI deployment
• Understand the role of human capital formation in an AI-enabled world
• Design AI strategies aligned with ethical and institutional responsibility

Course Modules

1. AI at the Crossroads of Hype and Hope

Explores the historical pattern of technological change and situates AI within the broader evolution of human capability and capital development.

2. Capital Architecture and the AI Economy

Examines how AI reshapes capital structures, authority, and organizational design.

3. Human Capital in the Age of AI

Focuses on human development, agency, and the role of education, families, and institutions in cultivating judgment and responsibility.

4. Ethical Capital and AI Governance

Explores ethical traditions, institutional legitimacy, and governance frameworks that guide responsible AI use.

5. Structures that Support Innovation

Examines how institutional boundaries and structural capital shape creativity, productivity, and technological development.

6. AI in Education, Government, and Civil Society

Analyzes AI adoption in mission-driven institutions where trust, formation, and service remain central outcomes.

7. Next-Generation AI and Human Flourishing

Synthesizes the framework and explores how properly aligned capital systems allow AI to support long-term human flourishing.

This course can be delivered in several formats:

• Graduate seminar
• Executive education program
• Professional leadership workshop
• Policy or institutional leadership seminar

I

Graduate students in economics, management, and public policy
Business and nonprofit leaders
Government officials and policymakers
Educators and institutional leaders
Technology professionals navigating AI governance