Around 70 percent of the challenges in implementing AI lie with people and processes, only 10 percent with the algorithms.
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Executive Career Programs · Level 1
xMBA Executive TrainingAI Business Fluency for Boards
Understand AI, ask the right questions, decide with clarity. The executive program for board members.
Faculty made up of entrepreneurs
who walk these paths themselves every day.
- Format
- 15 course dayspart-time in 5 blocks
- Dates
- 20 May to 10 July 2027Thursday to Saturday
- Language and location
- GermanLaunchspace Zürich
- Qualification
- GAT xMBA certificateplus AI Business Professional (SAQ)
For boards
AI belongs on the agenda.
AI Business Fluency for Boards is GAT’s xMBA Executive Training for board members. AI is changing business models, risks and competition. In the xMBA for Boards you put yourself in the position of teams who build with AI today. You get to know possibilities and capabilities and understand the limits, hands-on with a real innovation case. That way you ask the right questions on the board.
Part-time, in German, with peers from boards and executive management.
Why fluency on the board
As a board member you don’t need to code. But you should have experienced first-hand how teams build with AI today: what is possible, which skills it takes and where the limits lie. Only then can you judge whether an AI strategy holds up, what risks it carries and which questions executive management should answer. Fluency means: using AI yourself, knowing its limits and discussing it on equal terms.
Hands-on, not lecture hall
Not a lecture about AI, but work with AI. You test tools yourself, build prototypes and decide in simulations. Our Faculty consists of entrepreneurs who walk these paths themselves every day, many of them with their own board experience.
Why AI Business Fluency
AI only works when the business moves with it.
The program is deliberately not called just AI Fluency. Simply putting AI on top of existing processes rarely makes a noticeable difference. Impact comes when workflows, responsibilities and roles are rethought. That takes a new mindset and a new understanding of business.
That is why AI Business Fluency for Boards is not just an AI course. You learn to use AI yourself, and at the same time which questions about processes, roles and the business model the board needs to ask so that AI can have an impact in the company.
Nearly three quarters of companies that attribute at least 5 percent of their EBIT to AI have fundamentally redesigned their workflows because of AI. Among the others, it is around a quarter.
95 percent of the organisations studied see no measurable return from their GenAI investments. The study names missing integration into workflows as the main reason, not the capability of the models.
Further reading: BCG: Where’s the Value in AI? (2024) · McKinsey: The state of AI in 2026 · MIT NANDA: The GenAI Divide, State of AI in Business 2025 (coverage)
What you gain
What you gain in your everyday board work.
Four fields of competence, translated into the perspective of oversight and strategy. In every step you work with AI, as a tool, as an agent, as an agent team and as a team member.
Understand and classify AI
You know the most important applications, possibilities and limits of AI and recognise where it creates value in your own company.
Ask the right questions
You review executive management’s AI projects critically and constructively, from benefits and costs to data, security and reputation.
Foster innovation and agility
You understand how startups test and learn quickly with AI, and how you can support this dynamic on the board instead of slowing it down.
Decide under uncertainty
You practise decisions with incomplete information, in negotiations and critical situations.
How you work with AI, step by step
- Module 1ToolYou use AI deliberately for research, analysis, writing and your own assistants.
- Module 2AgentAn AI agent completes entire work steps on its own; you set the goal and the frame.
- Module 3Agent teamSeveral agents share the work; you orchestrate and review.
- Module 4Team memberAI works alongside the team; you lead people and AI together to the result.
Who it’s for
For members of boards and supervisory bodies.
The program is aimed at:
Board members of SMEs, family businesses and group companies.
Foundation board and advisory board members and members of supervisory bodies.
Members of executive management who are aiming for a board mandate or preparing for a portfolio career.
Entrepreneurs who want to strengthen their own board.
Your peer group
Board members and experienced leaders like you who don’t want to delegate AI but understand it themselves.
Prior knowledge
No technical knowledge required. Curiosity and a willingness to get hands-on are enough.
AI belongs on the agenda.
Program
Four modules, one innovation case.
You work on an innovation case throughout the program and experience the path from idea to decision first-hand.
Part-time5 blocks of 3 days: Thursday and Friday 13:30 to 19:30, Saturday 08:30 to 16:30. Individual online sessions complement the on-site days.
Dates 202720 to 22 May, 3 to 5 June, 17 to 19 June, 1 to 3 July and 8 to 10 July 2027.
Hands-on: Intensive hands-on inputs, lots of practice, work in small teams.
Understand
AI as a toolHow AI is changing business models and markets. You get to know the relevant technologies and use AI yourself as a tool, for example to analyse and prepare board matters.
Build
AI as an agentFrom problem to prototype. You experience how AI agents take over entire work steps on their own and how quickly an idea becomes something tangible. And what that means for investment and prioritisation decisions on the board.
Scale
AI as an agent teamGrowth, funding, law and security. You see how several AI agents work together as a team and sharpen your eye for opportunities and risks that belong on the board’s table.
Decide
AI as a team memberPitch, negotiation and decision in the ATLASS AI Business Simulation, with AI as team member and counterpart. You practise deciding clearly and with sound reasoning under pressure.
AI tools in the program
The tools you work with.
In the program you work with current AI tools, which we select on an ongoing basis according to their best current capability.
Core tools in pro versions
- OpenAI ChatGPT
- Anthropic Claude
- Perplexity
- Microsoft 365 with Copilot
A selection of these is made available to you during the program.
Further tools
- Slack
- Miro
- Google Workspace
- Notion
- NotebookLM
- Gamma
- Canva
- Figma
- Looka
- HeyGen
- Synthesia
- ElevenLabs
- Suno
- Replit
- Lovable
- Cursor
- Wispr Flow
- + specialised tools depending on the case
A selection of these is used in the program.
This list is illustrative and not exhaustive. Selection, providers, versions and licence scope may change at any time. There is no entitlement to specific tools, versions or licences. The GAT terms and conditions apply.
Qualification
Two complementary credentials.
The GAT xMBA certificate confirms your application on the case, the SAQ personal certification tests your knowledge independently.
xMBA certificate GAT
- Confirms
- successful participation and the final exam as part of the ATLASS AI Business Simulation
- Validity
- unlimited
AI Business Professional (SAQ)
- Passed
- from 80 %
- Exam fee
- included
- Validity
- 3 years
Admission to the final exam requires 80 % attendance.
What comes next: The xMBA qualifies you for admission to the EMBA Executive Training: AI Business Leadership. There you go deeper into board topics such as governance, AI regulation and liability. If you complete both programs successfully, you receive the EMBA title.
Go to AI Business LeadershipFaculty
Entrepreneurs as Faculty.
The Faculty is the same as for the xMBA Executive Training: AI Business Fluency, many of them with their own board experience.
Martin MeyerFounder GAT, CEO ATLASS Technology AGCourse Director, Technologies, CX, Simulation, Portfolio CareerChristina KehlFounder GAT, entrepreneur, board member and investorProgram Co-Founder, Startup RollercoasterNiklaus MoorTransformation & Change Manager, SECODesign Thinking & Product DevelopmentJonas BärtschFounder, InnovetoPrototyping & Agile WorkingDanielle HeerCFO & Lecturer; GAT Chapter Lead Silicon ValleyBudgeting, Financing & Fundraising
Gabi TroxlerCo-Founder feey, SEO consultantMarketing, Sales, Pitches & Branding
Marc RuefFounder, scip AGCyber Risk & Security
Jamie MeyerStudent at ETH Zurich, lecturer at the Graduate SchoolAI Tools & AI AgentsFacts, prices and dates
Introductory, alumni and partner price CHF 10'990.
One cohort in 2027, part-time in German.
- Format
- Part-time in 5 blocks of 3 days
- Online: individual sessions in addition
- Course times
- Thursday and Friday 13:30 to 19:30, Saturday 08:30 to 16:30
- Scope
- 15 course days
- Language
- German
- Location
- Launchspace Zürich, Albulastrasse 55, 8048 Zürich
- Price
- CHF 10'990 Introductory, alumni and partner price
- incl. SAQ exam fee and GAT xMBA exam fee
- Included
- SAQ exam including exam fee
- GAT xMBA exam including exam fee
- ATLASS AI Business Simulation
- Digital materials
Introductory, alumni and partner price
CHF 10'990
Choose a cohort
Under Course schedule you can see all dates and times of each cohort, also as a PDF to download.
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As of 29.10.2026, subject to change. On site at Launchspace Zürich, Albulastrasse 55, 8048 Zurich; online sessions via Zoom. Please be on site 15 to 30 minutes before the course starts.
Optional
“AI Loop” subscription
So you stay on top of things after the programme: a curated Weekly Tech Update, full access to the AI Tool Navigator and four update workshops a year, two in the evening at Launchspace Zürich and two online. CHF 990 for alumni, CHF 1'900 for everyone else. Can be booked at any time via the GAT website as soon as it is available.
Join the waiting listFunding
An investment in your career and your mandates.
The Executive Program: AI Business Fluency for Boards is designed as an investment in your own career and your mandates. The focus is on self-funding.
As a secondary option, a contribution from the company on whose board you sit, or from your employer, may be possible.
Tax deductionIn Switzerland, you can deduct self-funded costs for career-oriented further education from your taxable income. For direct federal tax, the maximum is CHF 13'000 per year and person (tax period 2025; the amount is adjusted periodically); the cantons have their own maximums. Costs covered by your employer or third parties are not deductible. The practice of your tax administration is decisive.
Grants and info sessionsAn overview of grants and funding programmes is available from the Innovationsverband Schweizer Arbeitsmarkt (ISA). In our info sessions we discuss funding in detail, and you can ask your individual questions.
Funding guidesDetailed funding guides are available on the programme pages AI Business Fluency and AI Business Leadership.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Why is the program called AI Business Fluency and not AI Fluency?
Because AI only has an impact when the business changes too. Simply putting AI on top of existing processes rarely makes a noticeable difference. Studies by BCG, McKinsey and MIT show that most of the value comes from redesigning workflows, responsibilities and roles. The program therefore combines AI with business, methods and mindset.
Is AI Business Fluency for Boards just an AI course?
No. You learn to use AI as a tool, an agent, an agent team and a team member. Just as important is how you reshape processes, teams and business models so that AI can unfold its potential. You work on a continuous case with Design Thinking, agile methods and a startup mindset.
Which AI tools do I work with in the program?
With current AI tools that we select on an ongoing basis according to their best capability. Of the core tools in pro versions, a selection is made available to you during the program, for example OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Perplexity or Microsoft 365 with Copilot. In addition, we use a selection of further tools, such as Slack, Miro, Google Workspace, Notion, NotebookLM, Canva, Figma, HeyGen, ElevenLabs, Suno, Replit, Lovable, Cursor or Wispr Flow. The list is illustrative and not exhaustive; there is no entitlement to specific tools, versions or licences.
Do I need technical knowledge?
No. The program is designed for board members without a technical background. You work hands-on with AI tools from day one.
How does the board version differ from the regular xMBA?
The content matches the xMBA Executive Training: AI Business Fluency. Examples, discussions and the peer group are geared to the perspective of board members. The program comprises 15 course days; preparation for the Swiss federal diploma is not included.
How does this fit with my mandates?
The program is part-time, in blocks on Thursday and Friday from 13:30 to 19:30 and on Saturday from 08:30 to 16:30.
Which qualifications do I receive?
The xMBA certificate GAT (unlimited) and the personal certification AI Business Professional (SAQ, valid for 3 years).
Can my company cover the costs?
The focus is on self-funding. A contribution from the company is possible as a secondary option. Clarify this directly with the chair or executive management.
Do you also offer the program for an entire board?
Yes, as a tailored program for boards or executive management teams. These programs can also work on cases from your own company. Get in touch with us: team [at] swiss-gat.ch.
What comes after the xMBA?
You can continue with the EMBA Executive Training: AI Business Leadership and deepen board topics such as governance, AI regulation and liability. We also recommend the AI Loop to stay up to date.
Executive Career Programs
Ready to put AI on the agenda?
Get to know the program at one of our info sessions.