UC Berkeley Haas launches AI certificate to prepare first generation of AI business leaders

UC Berkeley Haas has tapped its deep faculty expertise and its location at the epicenter of the AI revolution to introduce a new AI certificate that will help MBA students prepare for the profound global shift that is reshaping careers and redefining leadership.

The AI for Business graduate certificate spans four key pillars—technology, management, strategy, and impact. It will expose students to the challenges of building their own capabilities using AI, whether their goal is to lead a team, start a new company, or help transform an industry. 

“AI is changing not only how we lead but also who we lead and the very nature of the firm,” said Erika Walker, senior vice dean of instruction at Haas. “We’re bringing together expertise across Haas and Berkeley to train the first generation of ‘AI-native’ business leaders.”

UC Berkeley has played a foundational role in the development of machine learning and computational intelligence, and the Bay Area is ground zero for the AI revolution. Bay Area upstarts OpenAI and Perplexity AI have Berkeley co-founders/founders; the region is also home to Anthropic, industry giants Google, Meta, and Apple (co-founded by Steve Wozniak, EECS 76), and chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. Berkeley spawned database company Databricks and many other AI-focused startups.

UC Berkeley’s top-ranked programs in data analytics, computer science, artificial intelligence programs, and business put it at the forefront of the AI talent development that’s fueling the boom. Berkeley has ranked #1 in the number of undergraduate alumni starting venture-backed companies, for the third year in a row.  

“Berkeley is a world leader in AI, and we want our students to be able to take advantage of that expertise as AI revolutionizes how business operates,” said Haas Dean Jenny Chatman. “From finance and accounting to marketing and operations, high-impact leaders must understand how to manage human teams who use AI strategically, creatively, and with good judgment to maximize their impact.” 

Business for AI course anchors certificate

A total of 25 faculty members from across all six Haas academic groups will lead courses in the AI certificate program, teaching students how to separate commercial potential from hype and how to draw ethical lines. The anchor course, Business for AI, will launch in Spring 2026 taught by a team of faculty members with expertise in economics, finance, operations, and management. 

To earn the certificate, students must complete the Business for AI course and six additional units chosen from 30 available courses covering topics ranging from data mining and data analytics to the use of AI in entrepreneurship, healthcare, new product development, and climate research. Courses that address risks in security, privacy, and ethics are also offered.

“The program isn’t about chasing hype. It’s about learning to apply AI thoughtfully, strategically, and responsibly,” said Steve Nunes, EWMBA 27, who plans to pursue the new certificate even as he expands his use of AI as a product marketing manager. At work, Nunes said he needs to  lead conversations with both technical experts and executives, and the certificate will provide a framework to refine that skill set.

“My goal is to become even stronger at connecting the dots between what AI can do technically and how businesses can use it responsibly to drive real results,” said Nunes, who is also VP of marketing and communications for the Haas AI Club.

Faculty AI expertise runs deep

Many of the Haas School’s faculty were early adopters of machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models in their research. The school has been integrating AI tools into instruction to allow students and instructors to create apps, evaluate product ideas and speed up iteration, and enhance learning. A tool co-launched by Ghazaleh Sadooghi, EWMBA 25—Rumi Docs—is in widespread use to allow faculty to customize their AI policies and distinguish authentic student work and AI-generated content.

Some of the areas of faculty expertise include: 

• Marketing: Professor Zsolt Katona, an expert in digital marketing with a background in computer science, has been studying the use of AI in market research. Katona, who chaired the school’s recent AI task force, created MBA and executive education courses on AI fundamentals. He’ll co-teach the Business for AI foundation course.

• Healthcare: Professor Jonathan Kolstad is shaping the use of AI in this critical industry. He  launched the UC Berkeley Center for Healthcare Marketplace Innovation, a joint center with the College of Computing Science, Data and Society.

• Finance & Economics: Professor Adair Morse is looking at  fair AI use in credit markets, while Assistant Professor Anastassia Fedyk is researching and teaching on firm-level implications for hiring and innovation as well as the impact AI will have on a firm’s systemic risk.

• Entrepreneurship: Professor Toby Stuart, head of the Haas entrepreneurship & innovation group faculty director of the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program, is focused on the implications of AI for corporate organization and strategy as well as how AI is changing labor markets and professional, scientific, and white collar work. Stuart drew on his deep Silicon Valley to create the school’s popular immersion program. AI is also central to the Lean LaunchPad course.

• Management: Research by Associate Professor Abhishek Nagaraj examines the power and limits of big data and AI tools on shaping firm performance and social outcomes. Computing intelligence has become integral to management research, such as organizational culture work by Sameer Srivastava and Jenny Chatman using natural language processing to perform linguistic analysis of digital trace data such as emails.  

Berkeley Haas students from the Full-time, Evening and Weekend, and Executive MBA programs will be eligible to earn the certificate, which is the latest offering in a certificate program that includes the Michaels Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business, the Certificate in Business Analytics, and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Real Estate.

Andrei Bratescu, FTMBA 26, who interned this past summer at Amazon’s Zoox, which is developing autonomous vehicles, said he’s pleased that several AI courses he’s taken at Haas will apply toward the AI for Business certificate. 

“For me, it’s important to signal to employers that I’m an MBA who didn’t do only cash flow modeling, leadership, and accounting courses—and that my two years were also spent learning about and applying AI,” said Bratescu, who is VP of careers with the Haas AI Club.

Award-winning AI startups

Across Haas, a growing number of students and alumni are applying AI to entrepreneurship. Among them is Lifan Wang, MBA 22, who received $10 million in funding last year for open-source AI platform FlowGPT, which he co-founded. AI also took center stage at UC LAUNCH Demo Day, with Haas teams placing in the top three last April. First-place Visto (formerly Loveit.ai), co-founded by Harry Jiang, BS 11 (EECS), and EWMBA 26, and Tom Lee, MBA 14 (above, right and center) is an AI platform that helps brands track and optimize how they appear across AI search engines. 

The other finalist teams included FeatureBox AI, technology for AI-driven inventory forecasting for small businesses like Shopify, founded by Bharath Kurapati, EWMBA 26; and Anchor Logics, founded by  Nathan Hsu, BS/BA 24 (Robinson LSBE), and Joel An, BS 25, (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering), who are working on PIEZO, an AI-powered wearable smart vest for patients with balance disorders.

“While we’re in the very early stages of the AI revolution, our goal is to put Haas at the leading edge of training ethical, forward-thinking leaders and connecting them with the unparalleled campus and Bay Area ecosystem that’s right outside our door,” Chatman said.