AI4VA for Employers
AI4VA provides Virginia small businesses, organizations, and nonprofits with free virtual AI consulting courtesy of UVA students. By participating, you will emerge not only with key deliverables but with processes to help your business streamline operations. UVA student teams work remotely and will check in with you via Zoom on a convenient schedule.
Why participate?
As AI use becomes more ubiquitous, many businesses and organizations are wondering where and how AI tools fit into their strategy. AI4VA seeks to address this by applying UVA students' expertise to your business questions — in a way that is free of charge, entirely virtual, and suited to your unique needs and schedule.
As an iteration of our broader Career Academies program, this scalable approach delivers proven results. Hear from past employers on how pairing with student teams helped them build capacity and create sustainable processes.
Project Tracks
AI4VA projects fall into five categories, or tracks, to address your specific business needs and challenges. Click on each header to learn more about what each track entails and what a potential project may look like.
AI in Organizational Strategy & Impact
- Analyze a specific workflow or decision-making process to identify where AI could add value.
- Benchmark 2 to 3 AI tools against a defined organizational need (e.g., resource allocation, market analysis) and recommend a path forward.
AI in Data & Analytics
- Evaluate AI tools to clean, categorize, or tag a defined dataset (e.g., donor records, sales logs) and recommend an approach to reduce manual effort.
- Consult on a Generative AI approach to summarize a specific data set or build a lightweight dashboard concept for decision support.
AI in Operations & Process Automation
- Identify time-consuming workflows and recommend AI tools to reduce bottlenecks.
- Find AI opportunities to simplify administrative, HR, or hiring processes and improve how teams work together.
Example projects:
- Student teams may map one to two time-consuming manual workflows and recommend specific AI tools to reduce bottlenecks.
- Teams can also test automation tools (e.g., AI-powered scheduling or document processing) for a single high-impact use case.
AI in Marketing & E-Commerce
- Assess tools to make marketing more personalized and relevant.
- Pinpoint drop-off points — like abandoned carts or poor search results — where AI can quickly improve conversions.
- Find repetitive tasks (e.g., ad copy or product descriptions) that AI can handle at scale to speed up launches.
Example project:
- Students may evaluate tools to enhance marketing personalization for a specific channel or campaign.
- Teams can audit one manual creative workflow (e.g., ad variations, product descriptions) and recommend Generative AI tools to scale it.
AI Literacy & Enablement
- Develop resources and guidelines to help employees use AI responsibly and effectively.
- Coach teams on prompt writing, responsible AI use, and adopting new tools.
Example project:
- Students may design a starter set of AI usage guidelines for a specific team or function.
- Teams can also support a pilot group with prompt engineering basics and responsible AI practices.
Resources
Feel free to bring these resources to team discussions and explore how AI4VA can help your organization build AI capacity and literacy.
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AI4VA
Learn more about our AI4VA initiative, including details and resources for employers and students alike.
Project signups are now open.
Use this booking link to schedule an initial project scoping session with Jennifer Wallace, Experience Manager at Riipen.
AI4VA is an initiative of the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation at the University of Virginia.
AI4VA
Learn more about our AI4VA initiative, including details and resources for employers and students alike.