AI Foundry
MBA 693R · STRAT 490R
The BYU AI Foundry is an AI-native product studio and consultancy, and an official program of the BYU Marriott School of Business. We build AI products. One team works out what is worth building and then ships it, because those are no longer two jobs.
This site is the student program guide. It covers the course, how client teams are staffed, and the standard your work is held to. Everything written for prospective clients is on the official website, aifoundry.byu.edu.
The Foundry is not an internship placement and not a research project. Every engagement ends with software running in the client’s hands, and a real company has paid for it.
Build, IS 693R / MSB 341, is the prerequisite. It is offered every fall and every winter. Exceptions are granted for the 2026-2027 school year, since the Foundry is running for the first time and nobody has had the chance to take it yet. See The Builder and the Consultant for the three pathways through this year, the self-assessment, and what the commitment involves.
Course Numbers
This course is cross-listed under two course numbers. It is all the same class: everyone meets together Fridays 8:00 to 11:50 AM in 1244 TNRB, works on the same client teams, uses this site, and is graded on the same rubric. Register under whichever number fits your program.
| Course | Section | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MBA 693R | 011 | Special Topics in Management | 3.0 |
| STRAT 490R | 001 | Topics in Strategic Management | 3.0 |
Mixed MBA and undergraduate teams are intentional. The MBAs bring the business judgment, the undergraduate builders bring engineering depth, and on a Foundry team those are the same job.
How We Develop Builders
The Foundry trains full-stack product builders: people who can carry an idea from a user problem to a working product someone actually uses, with AI as both the material and the tool.
Two shapes describe that person.
The Builder is what you can make. Six axes: Discovery, Design, Application Architecture, AI Systems, Agentic Workflow, and Launch and Learn. Students self-report on all six at the start of fall semester and again in December, and see their own profile both times.
The Consultant is what changes when the work belongs to someone else. Four axes: Judgment, Ownership, Communication, and Collaboration. These are not self-reported. Faculty, teammates, and clients rate them against observed behavior at midterm and at the end of the term.
Nobody arrives strong on all ten. Teams are staffed so the team covers every Builder axis even when no single member does.
| Class | What it does |
|---|---|
| Build, IS 693R / MSB 341 | Raises your floor. The goal is not a 5 anywhere, it is nothing below a 3 |
| The Foundry Lab, this course | Tests your ceiling, and is the only place the Consultant axes develop at all |
Contact
AI Foundry, BYU Marriott School of Business
aifoundry.byu.edu · aifoundry@byu.edu
Scott Murff, Faculty Advisor · scott.murff@byu.edu