Gooder is an ethics consulting and auditing firm who helps impact-driven companies innovate responsibly. If you’re interested in learning more about emerging technology and new value-aligned pathways and tools for innovation, sign up for the Gooder newsletter here. It’s jargon-less, non-boring and always timely.

Months ago, I went to a marketing webinar about artificial intelligence (AI).

I’ve seen a lot of chatter about AI and the impending doom it plans to thrust upon our society. All the posts I’ve seen about it are either along the lines of, “heck yes, let’s go” or “hell no, we’re fcked.”

I was curious to hear what both sides had to say. So I went into the event with an open mind.

The webinar had me spooked. I get why people are worried about its potential to wipe out the creative process in the name of efficiency.

In a capitalist society, fast and “good enough” trumps slow and steady. Why hire a brand designer for a 6-week logo project when AI can whip up several options in a few seconds? Why build relationships with customers? There’s software to tell you everything you need to know about them and their interests.

“Good enough” is good enough. But the process (and the people within the process) matter too.

Before attending this event, I saw AI as a tool to help us. To make our lives and our jobs easier. By the end of that hour, I left with the question: Is “easier” ethical?

As soon as I left the meeting, I sent a voice memo and a string of messages to my friend Amy, founder of Gooder.

I met Amy through this newsletter. If I remember, it was my post about “embarrassing” music that got her to reach out. What started as a mutual love of Hillary Duff’s Metamorphosis album turned into one of my first small business friendships.

As a systems person, I’m always interested in exploring new tools and tech. While I do cover a lot of different platforms and software, I’ve never talked about AI in this newsletter before. I’m still not sure what to make of it — and have been afraid of getting it wrong.

I still believe there’s a place for AI, automation, and other emerging technologies in our lives. But how do we use them meaningfully?

Amy offered a simple framework for me and other values-driven entrepreneurs to answer that question for ourselves. If you’re also feeling a bit turned around by new technology, I hope it helps keep you grounded in what matters most to you.

Because I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should move my newsletter to Substack earlier this year, I offered it to Amy as an example. We’ll use that to bring the framework to life!

Subscribe now

Amy’s response is below.

This [How do we use technology more responsibly?] is the question I wish more entrepreneurs were asking! To me, this moment shouldn’t just be about learning how to use AI.

It’s more pressing to think through which tools you’re going to use, why you need them, and (most importantly) if they’re built and deployed ethically.

Lately, with the sudden introduction of new business tools like ChatGPT and AI, the Gooder team has been spending a lot of time helping leaders and teams learn to navigate emerging technology responsibly. Making decisions about powerful technology isn’t exactly what you signed up for when you started your biz, so we’re helping people like you out by making sure you’ve considered the issue from every angle.

Here’s a simple framework to get the ball rolling:

1) Start by asking yourself: When I make a business decision, who is affected?

 Shift your thinking from considering your shareholders to all stakeholders.

Examples of your stakeholders could be yourself, your employees, your customers, the environment and society at-large. 

Write down a list of all your company’s stakeholders. 

So when working through Andrea’s decision to move to Substack, the stakeholders would be Type C Creative and you, newsletter readers! We’ll use the latter as an example.

2) Consider their needs. 

Next, we’ll get to know each group a little better. This will help us consider the decision at hand through their eyes. Turn your stakeholder list into a little chart, like so:

3) Do a little digging.

Now that you’ve considered the decision through the eyes of your stakeholders, do your best to find answers to your remaining questions. This part can feel a little daunting, but there are tools out there to help you. You’re going to love this as a systems person, Andrea!

For example, instead of going to the Substack website and reading the confusing AF privacy policy yourself, you can rely on a plug-in like Pro Se to analyze it for you. Just plug in how cautious you believe your readers are about data privacy, and it’ll tell you if Substack complies— and even goes into detail about what type of information the app collects.

In most cases, a little desktop research is all it takes to get to the bottom of your questions!

4) Weigh the pros and cons.

Once you have all your answers, it’s time to make a now very well-informed decision on behalf of your stakeholders. And whatever you decide, remember to communicate the change to them for transparency!

You can subscribe to Amy’s newsletter and follow her on LinkedIn. 

**

Cover Photo by Andras Vas on Unsplash