Workshop — May 2026

GenAI for
Operational
Decision-making

A single-track workshop exploring how generative AI and autonomous agents are transforming the way businesses make operational decisions — from inventory and pricing to scheduling and resource allocation.

Date
FRI May 8, 2026
Location
Columbia Business School
Format
Single-Track · All Day
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Can AI agents facilitate and augment operational business decisions that are typically made by humans and optimization algorithms?

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> Speakers: confirmed  |  registration: open
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Schedule

Friday, May 8

A single-track day with four themed sessions. Each session has one keynote and three regular talks.

📋 Program

8:30 - 9:00
Breakfast
Board Rooms, 3rd floor
9:00 - 10:30
Session 1 · LLMs for operational decision-making
1 keynote + 3 regular talks
  • KeynoteYannai Gonczarowski
    Harvard Economics and Computer Science
    EconEvals: Benchmarks and Litmus Tests for Economic Decision-Making by LLM Agents
  • TalkYichun Hu
    Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
    Ask, Clarify, Optimize: Human-LLM Agent Collaboration for Smarter Inventory Control
  • TalkJackie Baek
    NYU Stern School of Business
    AI Agents for Inventory Control: Human-LLM-OR Complementarity
  • TalkLinwei Xin
    Cornell ORIE
    A Bitter Lesson for Retail Demand Forecasting: Evidence from Fine-Tuning Foundation Models
10:30 - 11:00
Break
11:00 - 12:30
Session 2 · Human-AI interaction and implications
1 keynote + 3 regular talks
  • KeynoteFrancis de Vericourt
    ESMT Berlin
    GenAI in Scientific Discovery: When to Use It, When It Helps, and When It Can Hurt
  • TalkZhen Lian
    Yale School of Management
    Algorithmic precision and human decision: A study of interactive optimization for school schedules
  • TalkNikhil Garg
    Cornell ORIE @ Cornell Tech
    AI homogeneity and its downstream consequences
  • TalkGuanting Chen
    UNC Chapel Hill Department of Statistics and Operations Research
    Lean-Atlas: Interpretation-Aware Agentic Proof Debugging for Real-World Mathematical Documents
12:30 - 2:00
Lunch
Board Rooms, 3rd floor
2:00 - 3:30
Session 3 · AI agents and replicas in markets and work
1 keynote + 3 regular talks
  • KeynoteJohn Horton
    MIT Sloan School of Management
    Chaining Tasks, Redefining Work: A Theory of AI Automation
  • TalkAkshit Kumar
    Yale University Center for Algorithms, Data and Market Design
    What Is Your AI Agent Buying? Evaluation, Biases, Model Dependence, & Emerging Implications for Agentic E-Commerce
  • TalkEugene Vinitsky
    NYU Civil Engineering, Percepta.ai
    Your User Model is the Bottleneck: Building Assistive Agents through Self Play
  • TalkGeorge (Zhida) Gui
    Columbia Business School
    Leveraging LLMs to Improve Experimental Design: A Generative Stratification Approach
3:30 - 4:00
Break
4:00 - 5:30
Session 4 · AI decision systems and deployment across industries
1 keynote + 3 regular talks
  • KeynoteAthul Paul Jacob
    Percepta.ai
    Lessons from Diplomacy for Decision-Making in Critical Industries
  • TalkKaizheng Wang
    Columbia IEOR
    Virtual Populations, Real Decisions: AI Personas for Human-Centered Inference
  • TalkAndrew Li
    CMU Tepper School of Business
    Personalization with Transformers
  • TalkSharon (Xuan) Di
    Columbia Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics
    Smarter Transit, Faster Decisions: Transforming Transit Operations From Prediction to Decision-Making
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Reception at Baylander
A waterfront reception aboard a stationary boat on the Hudson

Registration

$25: students  |  $50: non-students

We appreciate the generous support of the Columbia Business School AI in Business Initiative.

Register on Eventbrite
Venue

Geffen Hall

Location Details

📍 Geffen Hall, 645 W 130th St, New York, NY 10027
🎤 Talks, breakfast & lunch: Board Rooms (3rd floor, Rooms 310–330)
🥂 Reception: 6:00 - 9:00 PM at Baylander, aboard a stationary boat on the Hudson
🚇 Nearest subway: 125th St (1 train)
Organizers

Organized By

Omar Besbes
Columbia Business School
Will Ma
Columbia Business School