Learner collaborates with MIT peers to develop book of AI insights

Prabha Jha, a Verizon employee, teamed up with 20 fellow leaders she met through MIT xPRO's AI for Senior Executives program to publish "The AI Anthology," a collection of essays on how AI has influenced industries and society, MIT News reported on October 27, 2026. According to the article, Jha picked the course largely because it included in-person time with peers, and she credits it with giving her the confidence to build several AI solutions for Verizon.

Her path through the program was disrupted two months before completion, when a severe infection put her in the hospital for two weeks. MIT staff helped her move to the next cohort, which meant five more days on campus with 100 new classmates and content that had already been updated within six months. Jha estimates that peers and their interactions accounted for 70 percent of what she learned, with the remaining 30 percent coming from the materials and professor.

The book grew out of a salon at the home of MIT professor Manolis Kellis, where a classmate described pursuing AI in hopes of finding a cure for her mother's Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Jha says the moment showed her how personal AI can be, and the anthology followed a year later.

Jha argues that leaders remain stuck on traditional measures such as revenue and cost savings, and should also consider quality of life and fulfillment, questions she says younger generations are already raising. She is now working on an initiative to help small and medium-sized businesses choose AI tools, fit them to their operations and measure success.