We live in a world where marketing strategies are crafted not just by human intuition but enhanced by AI-driven insights. This is the reality students are exploring at D'Amore-McKim.
In MKTG 4604: Creating Business Value with Data and AI Technologies, taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Debashish Ghose, students explore the power of marketing by combining machine learning and AI with strategic business insights. Designed by Professor Yakov Bart, the course empowers students to use advanced technologies strategically, enhancing their ability to drive real-world business value.
Ghose emphasizes that, “MKTG 4604 bridges the gap between technical AI/ML methods and strategic application.” Students delve into machine learning methods such as regressions, decision trees, neural networks, and clustering to learn from insights like customer lifetime value, consumer sentiment, and supply chain efficiencies. The objective is clear: to prepare professionals fluent in both the language of business and technological innovation.
Hands-on experience with Generative AI
Students in the Spring '25 session actively engaged with Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to develop marketing campaigns comprising both text and images. AI-enabled coding tools, such as Cursor, were also used to transform business ideas into practical web applications quickly. While students appreciate the efficiency these tools offer, Ghose noted they remain cautious about over-reliance, maintaining a balanced perspective on technology as an enabler rather than a replacement for creativity and critical thinking.
Real-world impact through value-generation projects
The course culminates in a comprehensive “Value Generation Project,” where students tackle practical challenges through AI-driven solutions. The most recent semester's innovative projects included:
- A personalized women's clothing shopping assistant
- A Spotify podcast recommender based on mood analysis
- A personalized travel advisor
- Restaurant recommendation systems
- AI-driven financial advisory tools
- Virtual tutors for personalized learning
These student-developed solutions notably harness generative AI agentic architectures: Systems in which multiple AI agents collaboratively simulate complex tasks typically handled by conventional machine learning algorithms.
Justin Guthrie, DMSB '25, shared, “I was able to combine my data science coding knowledge with soft skills derived from researching multiple case studies, specifically looking at things in a marketing context. I was able to explore multiple AI platforms and use them in a variety of use cases, including text and image scenarios. Our final project essentially created an AI chatbot that served as a brilliant basis for future chatbot technologies in a variety of fields—all made with Cursor AI.”
Students also emphasized how directly applicable the course's impact was to their professional contexts. Rishita Shroff, DMSB'25, highlighted the class's practicality: “Initially, this course was just another required course for completing my degree. After attending a few classes, not only did I learn how AI had been applied in business processes, but I also learned how businesses marketed these technologies. As a Data Science and Business Administration major, this class helped me explore the intersection between the two by showing me a different perspective of how I can continue to pursue my interests in both fields.”
Guthrie also noted how the course prepared him practically. “With AI becoming ever more central in today's corporate environment, this class encouraged rather than discouraged AI for assignments, making the class more applicable to the real world. We explored the in-between disciplines of data science and business, which is critical to many businesses, being able to translate code into real-world insights tangible to business executives.”
Integrating technical mastery with ethical responsibility
The course's curriculum integrates technical and managerial components across six comprehensive modules. It begins with Business Strategy Foundations, focusing on aligning AI tools with broader organizational goals. Predictive Analytics and AI-Driven Business Models explores how businesses use data to forecast customer behaviors and market trends. Customer Engagement Strategies introduces prescriptive analytics, emphasizing the design of effective recommender systems. The module on Generative AI in Business Applications strengthens prompt engineering skills to drive innovation. Ethics in AI and Data Use addresses vital concerns such as algorithmic bias, data privacy, and the ethical implications of AI in marketing. Finally, the Value Generation Project challenges students to apply their knowledge by developing innovative AI solutions for real-world business scenarios.
Ghose further enriches learning experiences by inviting experts from Northeastern's College of Engineering and the LearnBot Lab at DMSB AI Strategic Hub, who provide specialized workshops on prompt engineering and practical coding techniques.
Ethics as a core conversation
Ethical considerations flow through the entire course. Students actively engage in presentations and discussions centered on algorithmic bias, data privacy, and the unintended consequences of AI-driven systems. These discussions ensure students not only master AI tools but also adopt responsible, ethically sound approaches to innovation.
Guthrie shared this key insight: “A key takeaway from this class is that while AI is incredibly beneficial, and can be used in a variety of cases, it should not be the ‘end all, be all' of analysis. Oftentimes AI can ‘allucinate', and it often has trouble creating truly unique solutions. Thus, the interaction between humans and AI is essential for professionals to refine as they deliver the best results from AI.”
Shroff echoed this sentiment, adding, “One of the key takeaways from this class is ‘where there is a will and AI, there's an MVP of an app ready in 10 days'. In today's world, most businesses are trying to incorporate AI within their operations, and in such an evolutionary space, it is important to understand how to use AI effectively and ethically. This class helps us understand exactly that.”