Yael Grushka-Cockayne

What exactly is the metaverse? What are the challenges in building an interactive virtual world? Which technologies will get us there? How will players — particularly younger ones — be protected while engaging with others?

For many patients battling disease, working with their doctors to find the most effective treatment can be a painful exercise of trial and error. What if you could more precisely choose medications and customize treatment based on people’s genes, environment, and lifestyle?

Machine learning promises to increase the pace and volume of content released by artists and makes music and composition more accessible to budding new artists. On one hand it helps to feed the seemingly insatiable desire for new content on streaming platforms but on the other, it threatens originality.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet — "just setting up my twttr" — sold for more than $2.9 million. Bored Ape Yacht Club digital art pieces fetch just over $100,000. NBA Top Shot sells digital NBA moments for millions of dollars. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are making this possible. But is it more hype than reality?

Business decisions can be daunting; risk is a factor, stakes can be high, and analysis may integrate both quantitative and intangible dimensions. In the pursuit of more and better data, decision-makers should not neglect another essential element of the process: the evaluation of all possible outcomes.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide an online education platform reaching a global audience of millions of learners. Concerns around the rising costs of higher education are increasing the pressure on schools to consider digital offerings. Disruption is underway, but what are the opportunities and risks it poses?

The sheer number of crypto options available today suggests significant market disruption is underway. Yet where there is hype, there is also volatility. Is it merely the newness of crypto that is causing this volatility, or does the concern go deeper? What are the benefits and concerns of shifting the economy toward digital currencies?

Electric vehicles are on track to become the dominant technology over the next 10–20 years. But do we truly understand all the implications of this shift? Are we ready for it?

Much about 2021 looked like 2020. But as the world adapted to ongoing pandemic life, we also had to stay nimble in the face of uncertainty. We tried to roll with the punches. 2021 saw new developments and challenges, as well as existing issues that evolved. Here, we look at themes and observations Darden experts explored over the course of 2021.

Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne and the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr discuss how new tools in data science, AI, machine learning and harnessing the wisdom of the crowd have revolutionized how people and organizations plan.