---
title: "AI in business today"
course: "PHIL 110 · Make ethical calls about AI"
unit: "Ethics and AI foundations"
lesson: 1 of 40
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/ai-in-business-today
publisher: Maestro College
---

# AI in business today

Lesson 1 of 40 in **Make ethical calls about AI** (PHIL 110), unit "Ethics and AI foundations". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Identify at least five real ways AI is currently used in business settings that affect people's lives, naming one benefit and one risk for each.
- Describe in plain terms how AI systems reach their outputs — training data, pattern recognition, and human-set objectives — without technical jargon.
- For one AI use case, explain why the risk arose from the way the system was designed or deployed — not just what the risk is.

## Teaching notes
Open with the two working concepts (AI, LLM) before the landscape survey. Keep to 2–4 minutes. Ground both in business examples immediately, then proceed to the landscape survey.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 1 complete: AI in business today."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Human accountability" (lesson 2 of 40), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/human-accountability.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: (none)
Next lesson: Human accountability