NYU Stern Undergraduate College students at The Microsoft Garage in NYC’s Soho neighborhood, down the street from NYU’s Washington Square campus. (NYU Stern photo)
In just a few short years, artificial intelligence has changed the way we learn, work, seek advice, and even plan out our days. It’s almost cliché at this point to comment on the speed at which the technology is evolving.
The changes are at once breathtaking and somewhat alarming. What exactly is human intelligence? Can machines be moral? If artificial intelligence will someday be able to solve all solvable problems, what will there be left for humans to do?
All semester long, a group of New York University’s Stern School of Business undergrads have been working on two questions in particular related to the evolution of AI: Should Microsoft create an AI tool that can evaluate both aesthetics and ethics? If yes, how should the tool be used?
“Presenting at the Microsoft Garage shifted my perspective of the experience from an academic assignment to a project with the potential to make a real-world impact,” says Amélie Murphy (BS ’25) who worked with The Microsoft Garage for her NYC Consulting Capstone course.
NYC CONSULTING CAPSTONE
NYU Stern Clinical Professor Matt Statler, who designed and led Stern’s NYC Consulting Capstone, speaks with students during the capstone’s fall semester final plenary. Courtesy photo
The NYU Consulting Capstone is required of all Stern seniors, no matter their career aspiration or concentration. That’s about 650 students per year. The course was designed as a consulting project specifically because of the industry’s intersection with so many business functions, roles, and sectors. Classmates are divided into cross-functional teams, just like a team from McKinsey, Bain or BCG would be.
Students in the course spend the entire semester working on a unique, real-world business case for NYC-based businesses, non-profits, or organizations. The capstone is offered through about 10 different sections per semester, providing a range of problems and brands to choose from.
Past industry partners have included TIFIN, founded by a Stern alum, which is developing an AI-enabled investment advisory product targeted at millennial and Gen Z investors; Space, dubbed the “Uber Eats of personal storage,” an on-demand, by-the-box storage startup; and Spring Bank, the first chartered bank in the Bronx in over a generation. Each partner brings distinct challenges and learning opportunities.
“In a class of 36 students, divided into teams of four, a thousand flowers will bloom. A bunch of different ideas will be generated, and that’s what I think the clients really benefit from,” says Matt Statler, the Richman Family Director of Business Ethics and Social Impact Programming at Stern. He is leading the capstone and teaching one of the sections.
“The partners that sign up for this, they know what they’re getting: A bunch of really smart undergraduate students grinding away on stuff they don’t necessarily always have the time to do. For them, it’s value-add just like a consulting firm would be with the spin that this is Gen Z. There are unique insights that this demographic of people can bring that maybe even the big consulting firms can’t promise.”
NYU Stern Undergraduate College students on the roof deck of The Microsoft Garage in Soho with Mike Pell, Director, The Microsoft Garage. (NYU Stern photo)
THE MICROSOFT GARAGE PROJECT
The Microsoft Garage is the company’s innovation lab where Microsoft employees can work on experimental projects, often outside their primary job function. This initiative encourages creativity and experimentation, providing tools, resources, and support to help bring new ideas to life.
The garage is a prime example of the kind of partner Stern Solutions looks for the NYC Consulting Capstone. It is located just down the street from NYU’s Washington Square campus in Soho, making it uniquely New York. It’s also a world renowned brand with a project that needs completing – with or without students’ help. It’s hard to get more real-world than that.
Murphy and her section classmates were charged with exploring the aesthetics and ethics of AI, specifically to determine whether Microsoft should develop a tool with judgment capabilities.
“We get so much energy from interacting directly with students that isn’t found anywhere else in our business. It’s electric and very fun for us. And we love sharing with them what we’ve learned about accelerating the innovation process with AI, and in turn we get a chance to listen carefully to what parts resonate with them,” says Mike Pell, director of The Microsoft Garage – NYC.
“This particular class has not only taken up the challenge, but also started to define a whole new way to view the foundational principles and identified some very promising focused implementations.”
The capstone course was launched last fall, and since then, more than 1,000 Stern undergrads have worked with NYC businesses and organizations to solve their specific challenges. It leverages all the advantages NYC offers including the sheer number of diverse industries across NYC, all accessible with a MetroCard. Think AI finance, real estate, healthcare, sustainability, entertainment, media, and countless others.
One of the key goals of the capstone is to give students the space to build skills that cannot be automated. In an era of artificial intelligence, it’s the duty of educators to future-proof graduates for an ever changing workplace. These include human capacities for self awareness, empathy, and ethical judgement.
That’s part of what makes the Microsoft project so compelling, Murphy says.
“It has really been interesting to consider the implications of innovation in the tech industry from a philosophical and moral perspective.”
‘THE ART OF MAKING AN ARGUMENT’
At the start of the course earlier this fall, Pell led the Stern students on a tour of the office space. He walked the class through the ideation process his team uses with clients. It helped Murphy and her teammates work at the standards expected of some of the most creative minds in the tech space, she says.
Amélie Murphy (BS ’25) with Mike Pell, Director, The Microsoft Garage, and Professor Matt Statler. (NYU Stern photo)
Her team delivered two pitches to the Microsoft Garage firm: One midway through the semester and one at the end. The feedback from that room was something she could never have gotten from a business school classroom.
“I appreciated how direct the feedback from our client was. There were several Microsoft employees who listened to our mid-semester presentations, each with different expertise. It was so productive to receive unfiltered feedback from the group, and it set my team and me up for a stronger final presentation and deliverables,” Murphy says.
“I will take away the art of making an argument. Of course, having sufficient research and data is necessary, but the ability to turn my work into a compelling story that resonates with the audience is a skill that I will carry with me throughout my career.”
As the semester progressed, Murphy appreciated the blend of technical skills and critical thinking nurtured through their work with Microsoft Garage. This experience culminated in a moment that not only encapsulated their journey but also highlighted the broader educational context.
“The most memorable moment at the Garage was being on the rooftop and looking out at Soho and the rest of the city. After four years of going to school in NYC, it can be easy to take for granted our proximity to major global companies,” she says.
“The fact that The Microsoft Garage office sits just a few blocks from NYU Stern reaffirmed my gratitude for being a student at NYU!”
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