Program brings unique blend of technical and business curriculum to executives looking to augment their generative AI skillset

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is launching an on-demand learning program led by Accenture experts and powered by content from Stanford Online, designed to equip business and technology leaders with the knowledge and skills to harness the full potential of generative AI and drive greater business value for their organizations while balancing societal considerations.

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Accenture is launching an on-demand learning program led by Accenture experts and powered by content from Stanford Online, designed to equip business and technology leaders with the knowledge and skills to harness the full potential of generative AI and drive greater business value for their organizations while balancing societal considerations. (Photo: Business Wire)

The Generative AI Scholars Program offers more than 40 hours of self-paced, best-in-class online learning taught by leading Stanford faculty and lecturers through Stanford Online course material, combined with industry insight from Accenture experts. Blending lectures, engaging discussions and practical insights pulled from peer experiences, it goes beyond theory to provide business and technology leaders with generative AI strategy and technology know-how for real-world application. Key features include easily digestible bite-sized learning, industry spotlights and case studies, module-specific checkpoints to reinforce learners’ knowledge and new skills, as well as reflection activities to apply what they’ve learned.

”As an educator at heart, I hold a profound sense of pride in creating ways for individuals not only to grasp the transformative potential of AI but also to empower leaders to prepare their organizations for new ways of working in today’s digital economy and develop an understanding of the profound impact AI will have on our society in the coming years,” said Lan Guan, Accenture’s chief AI officer and head of its Center for Advanced AI. “Inspired by the success of the Foundation Models Scholar Program, which was delivered by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI to about 150 Accenture leaders, we’re now bringing the highest caliber of AI skills training to thousands of participants.”

The announcement was made today by Ms. Guan at Fortune Brainstorm AI 2024 in San Francisco.

In addition to building awareness, fluency and applied skills, the program was designed to foster a new understanding of the technical and societal challenges of generative AI while offering the ability to go deeper with courses covering topics such as technical fundamentals, foundation models, prompt engineering, agentic architecture, human-centered AI and responsible AI.

The program is hosted on the Accenture LearnVantage platform, offering easy access and personalized navigation. Like other Accenture LearnVantage enterprise learning programs, it is one of many great resources available to organizations to guide them along their talent transformation journey in the AI space.

“Against the backdrop of generative AI’s rise as one of the most transformative changes in how work gets done, we talk a lot about making people feel part of an organization’s transformation efforts by helping them build the skills they will need for the next waves of technological change. But there is little out there designed specifically with leaders in mind,” said Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage. “This dynamic learning program is poised to make a mark on the upskilling landscape, allowing us to scale our ability to reach thousands more learners and prepare C-suite leaders to successfully navigate and structure their businesses for the many opportunities that technological change is bringing.”

The online Generative AI Scholars Program was born from a critical need to address the growing demand for a future-fit talent pool in light of the rapid changes occurring in the generative AI space. An earlier program, the Foundation Models Scholar Program, was first delivered by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI in 2022 as an in-person, three-day intensive program for Accenture executives and senior leaders to get fully immersed in generative AI and up to speed on the latest use-cases and industry applications. That inspired the new online, on-demand program, which offers a more comprehensive curriculum with richer content and expanded accessibility.

“At the heart of our mission at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI is to help develop and deploy AI in a way that benefits the world, with human-centered values at the technology’s core,” said James Landay, Professor of Computer Science and HAI’s co-founder and Co-Director. “We are pleased to provide cutting-edge content through Stanford Online to Accenture’s Generative AI Scholars Program to help more professionals understand and use AI to solve real-world challenges.”

Upon completion of the program, participants are rewarded with a certificate issued by Accenture in recognition of their new knowledge and mastery of applied skills.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with 774,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com.

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