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AI and Decision-Making
SIPA-UNITAR Series on Negotiation and AI
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| Time (EST): 9:00am-5:00pm |
Format: In-Person and Online |
Tuition: $5,395 Online* $6,895 In-Person** |
| Application deadline: TBD |
Location: Columbia University and United Nations |
Payment deadline: TBD |
| Certificate: AI and Decision-Making |
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Learn to apply AI and data science tools to enhance executive decision-making, risk assessment, strategic planning, and crisis forecasting in international and diplomatic contexts.
*$4,316 reduced online tuition for Columbia alumni and groups
**$5,516 reduced in-person tuition for Columbia alumni and groups
Overview
Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both significant opportunities and complex challenges for multilateral negotiation and international cooperation, presenting the potential to enhance institutional efficiency, improve analysis of complex issues, support consensus-building, and strengthen evidence-based decision-making, while also raising important ethical, regulatory, and governance concerns. To address these challenges, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) are partnering to deliver an Executive Programme Series on Negotiation and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The series will equip leaders and practitioners with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the opportunities, risks, and implications of AI in negotiation, diplomacy, and international cooperation.
AI and Decision-Making
AI is increasingly shaping how senior leaders and decision-makers navigate complex, uncertain, and time-sensitive decisions. As AI-enabled systems support the synthesis of information, risk assessment, and strategic foresight, leaders are required to understand not only what these tools can offer, but also how to exercise judgment, accountability, and oversight in AI-supported decision environments. The final program in the series will examine the strategic implications of AI for executive-level decision-making across public and international contexts.
Designed for senior professionals, the third program in the Columbia SIPA-UNITAR Executive Series on Negotiation and AI will focus on strengthening participants’ capacity to assess when and how AI can add value to decision-making processes, while safeguarding institutional responsibility and credibility. Through high-level discussions and applied reflection, participants will develop the confidence to integrate AI-informed insights into leadership practices, ensuring that technology enhances, rather than substitutes, sound judgment and effective decision-making.
To launch the Executive Programme Series, Columbia SIPA and UNITAR will be hosting a Roundtable on the 22nd of July at 10am ET / 4pm GVA time. For more information and to register please visit the following link.
Structure and Curriculum
Program Structure
Designed for senior professionals, the course will focus on strengthening participants’ capacity to assess when and how AI can add value to decision-making processes, while safeguarding institutional responsibility and credibility. Through high-level discussions and applied reflection, participants will develop the confidence to integrate AI-informed insights into leadership practices, ensuring that technology enhances, rather than substitutes, sound judgment and effective decision-making.
Attention will also be given to the strategic implications of agentic and multi-agent systems, digital twinning for advanced situational awareness, synthetic media and provenance tooling, and the longer-term diplomatic consequences of potential developments in quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography.
Program Methodology
The program will be delivered over a one-week period and will be jointly designed and delivered by UNITAR and SIPA. The sessions will be delivered in a blended format, utilizing a hybrid mode of instruction to enable participants to join the sessions either in-person or online. The in-person sessions of the program will be held on the campus of Columbia University and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. This flexible delivery model is intended to maximize global reach and impact.
Instructional methodologies will include a range of interactive lectures, case studies, negotiation simulations, scenario analyses, the application of AI and data science tools, group exercises, stakeholder discussions, high-level roundtables, and site visits. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s leading experts in Negotiation and AI.
Key Topics
- AI and Data Science Techniques to Enhance Executive Decision Making, Risk Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Operational Efficiency;
- Development of Effective Data Representations to Build Accurate and Reliable LLMs;
- Tech modules split into two subgroups: ML over large datasets (used for crisis forecasting, prevention) and LLMs (day-to-day research and drafting work) and including their governance and procurement profiles;
- Forward-looking module on agentic and multi-agent systems, digital twinning for advanced situational awareness, synthetic media and provenance tooling, and the diplomatic implications of quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography;
- Leveraging LLMs for Strategic Decision Making;
- AI in Diplomatic Decision Making;
- AI Driven Foresight and Future Analysis.
Learning Objectives
- Assess when and how AI adds value to complex, uncertain, and time-sensitive decisions, while safeguarding institutional responsibility, credibility, and sound judgment;
- Apply AI and data science tools to enhance executive decision-making, risk assessment, strategic planning, and crisis forecasting in international and diplomatic contexts;
- Distinguish between machine learning tools for crisis forecasting and large language models for research and drafting, and evaluate their respective governance, procurement, and operational implications for senior decision-makers;
- Anticipate the strategic and diplomatic implications of emerging technologies, including agentic systems, digital twins, synthetic media, and quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography;
- Exercise informed oversight of AI-supported decision environments, maintaining accountability, ethical judgment, and institutional credibility in contexts where AI and human agency intersect.
Professional Benefits
Participants in the Executive Programme Series on AI and Negotiation will gain access to a range of professional, academic, and networking benefits designed to support their leadership development and career advancement in an increasingly AI-enabled global environment.
- Joint Columbia SIPA–UNITAR Certificate: Earn a Joint Certificate from SIPA and UNITAR—two of the world’s leading institutions in multilateral diplomacy, public policy, and international affairs—upon the successful completion of each program. Participants who complete all three programs would additionally receive an overarching certificate for the full series.
- Access to World-Class Faculty and Practitioners: Learn from leading academics, policy experts, diplomats, negotiators, and practitioners from Columbia SIPA, UNITAR, and the broader international community who are shaping the future of AI governance and multilateral cooperation.
- Membership in a Growing Community of Practice: Become part of a global network of professionals, diplomats, government officials, international civil servants, and regulators focused on AI, governance, negotiation, and decision-making, creating valuable professional connections that can support future collaboration, policy dialogue, and professional opportunities.
- Peer Learning and Cross-Sector Exchange: Expand perspectives through engagement with participants working at the forefront of AI policy, diplomacy, and governance from different sectors and regions and gain practical insights into how AI challenges and opportunities are being addressed across different national and institutional contexts.
- Practical Skills and Applied Learning: Acquire hands-on experience with AI-enabled tools and policy frameworks as well as immediately applicable skills through case study analysis, negotiation simulations, real-word policy exercises, forecasting tools, and scenario planning.
- Enhanced Professional Credentials: Enhance your expertise and competencies in AI, negotiation, governance, and decision-making and gain insights into emerging international norms, regulatory developments, governance frameworks, and geopolitical dynamics that are shaping the future of artificial intelligence worldwide.
- Alumni Engagement Opportunities: Receive invitations to select thought leadership events, policy forums, and networking opportunities organized by Columbia SIPA and UNITAR, to remain engaged with evolving developments in AI and international affairs.
- Exposure to Global Centers of Diplomacy: Gain exposure to the global centers of diplomacy in New York City and Geneva.
Program Faculty
The Executive Programme Series on Negotiation and AI is taught by world-renowned academics, researchers, and practitioners from Columbia University; the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); and the EPFL Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne, among others, bringing together the appropriate focus of theory and applied methods in emerging technologies and negotiation. The program offers an opportunity for participants to expand their professional networks working with leading researchers and practitioners from international multilateral organizations, academic and government institutions, and foundations from around the world.
Eduardo Albrecht is an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia SIPA and a former senior fellow at the United Nations University’s Centre for Policy Research, where he conducted research on uses of AI technologies in the United Nations conflict prevention and response architecture.
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Andrea Cavallaro is a Full Professor at EPFL Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition, and a Fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems.
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Paige Arthur is the Director of Global Programming at Columbia Global, Columbia University. Before her current role, she served as a senior fellow at the NYU Center on International Cooperation. She recently co-authored "AI for Peace," a book exploring the advancements in AI technologies and their applications in peacebuilding.
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Application Process
Eligibility Requirements
The training program is designed to build the capacities of a diverse cohort, including diplomats, delegates, international civil servants and policymakers, academics, and professionals working across the public and private sectors.
Given the senior level of the intended cohort, the program will assume working familiarity with multilateral or executive contexts and will be calibrated to the practical demands of working with AI in professional settings, equipping participants to deploy, evaluate, and govern these tools in their own institutions.
The program will be conducted in English, hence fluency in English is a requirement for participation.
Application Process
To create an application, either log in if you're a returning user or create an account if you're a first-time user. You will then be able to select an existing application or start a new application. Note: for all certificate and non-degree programs, please select the Executive Education application instead of the general SIPA application.
Contact
The Picker Center for Executive Education
Laura McCreedy
Manager of Executive Education
Email Exec Ed Manager
Columbia University | SIPA
Picker Center for Executive Education
118th Street, Room 400
New York, NY 10027
P: +1 212-854-0791