The AI Race Is On: How Organizations Can Lead With Advisory, Design Labs, and In-Residence AI Coaches

“Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen

and thinking what nobody has thought.”

—Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Prize-winning scientist

We’re not approaching the AI future—we're living in it. The recently released 2025 AI Index Report paints a vivid picture of AI’s exponential trajectory—from mind-blowing performance gains to cost collapses and a global race for dominance. But for organizations, the report is more than a milestone. It's a map.

That’s why Setser Group is launching a new suite of AI Essentials micro-courses—Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced—so every leader can find their on-ramp to AI fluency, with a human, online or in person, to help deepen the learning or guide how the course content is applied. Whether you're just getting started or shaping enterprise-level strategy, these micro-courses turn confusion into capability—and theory into impact.

Wayfinder Home Explore Activity Rewards Do This Now AI 101 AI Essentials: A Beginner’s Experience Episode 1: What is AI? Forget the buzzwords—this episode breaks AI down in real-world language. You’ll learn what artificial intelligence actually is, how it works differently from traditional software, and where it already shows up in… In-progress Episode 2: How to Write Better AI Prompts If you want better results from AI, you need better prompts—plain and simple. In this episode, you’ll learn how to give AI clear, structured instructions that actually work. We’ll break down what makes a strong… 45 min Episode 3: AI as Your Digital Assistant AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a practical tool that can make your workday run smoother. In this episode, you’ll discover how AI can function as your digital assistant, helping you write clearer emails, summarize long… 45 min

Our new AI offerings join our growing catalog of leadership and innovation micro-courses—including how to build a future-ready business, create a culture of innovation, and lead AI transformation at work. Together, these courses meet leaders where they are—and move them where they need to go.

It’s time to move from curiosity to capability.

Here’s how your organization can prepare to deliver AI advisory services, establish design labs to shape future programs and products, and embed AI coaches in residence to drive implementation and impact:

1. ADVISORY SERVICES: GET IN THE AI GAME STRATEGICALLY

The signal is clear: AI is evolving faster than most organizations can keep up with. One of the biggest leaps highlighted in the AI Index Report? Coding task performance jumped from 4.4% to 71.7% in just one year. That kind of acceleration demands focused strategy—not one-off experimentation.

Create an image with the following text in a comic-book style format. The image must be in landscape mode, and you can use 2-4 panels. Here's the text: Advisory services should focus on the following: Readiness audits across functions (operations, data, talent). AI policy development to balance innovation and risk. Benchmarking and opportunity mapping—where can AI do more than automate, and truly amplify? Governance models for deploying AI ethically, equitably, and securely.

To support this work, our Advanced AI Essentials course equips leaders with the tools to develop policy, navigate compliance, and create ethical governance structures. For those earlier in their journey, our Intermediate AI course builds the strategic and operational fluency needed to guide cross-functional teams. Still need more? Set up a lunch and learn session with someone on our team to help walk you through customized advisory suggestions tailored for your team.

2. DESIGN LABS: BUILD WHAT’S NEXT—NOW

The US may lead in model creation, with 40 major AI systems developed in the past year, but the real edge will go to those who design what they uniquely need, not just adopt what’s already out there.

Why now?

Because AI’s cost barrier is crumbling—querying high-performance models now costs 280x less than just 18 months ago. That opens the door for nimble design teams to prototype new AI-powered products and programs quickly and affordably.

Design Labs should do the following: Host cross-functional sprints with AI tools in the room. Rapidly test, validate, and refine use cases (think: student advising bots, operations copilots, program recommender engines). Focus on human-AI teaming models where AI augments—not replaces—talent.

To maximize design outcomes, our Creating a Culture of Innovation course helps teams unlock creative confidence, while the Beginner AI Essentials course offers foundational skills in prompting, task automation, and ethical AI exploration—perfect for onboarding cross-functional teams new to AI. Would it help even more if we walked one of your leads through how to scale this work across your team? Set up bi-weekly coaching sessions for us to help you unpack the key moves for your organization.

3. IMPLEMENTATION WITH AI COACHES IN RESIDENCE

From investment to impact: The US is already leading global AI investment with $109.1 billion—but only implementation creates value.

Want a compelling use case? In healthcare, AI agents in virtual labs have designed nanobodies that fight SARS-CoV-2 with over 90% accuracy. GPT-4 is even outperforming doctors in diagnostics, hitting 92% accuracy vs. 74% by physicians alone.

That same level of augmentation is coming to education, public services, HR, and operations. But it won’t happen automatically.

That’s where AI Coaches in Residence come in: Embed with teams to co-create workflows, dashboards, and prompt libraries. Train staff on AI fluency and tool adoption that aligns with their goals. Create feedback loops for safe, sustainable implementation. Lead monthly design reviews to evolve use cases and scale what works.

Our AI’s Role in the Workplace course is built specifically for organizations launching in-house coaching and change management efforts. And for teams ready to scale with agility, Build a Business Ready for Any Future delivers frameworks for deploying AI across every layer of the enterprise. Consider an AI coaching in-residence sprint from Setser Group to have your leaders, teams, and organizations future-ready in less than 90 days.