A smiling woman stands holding a tablet in the foreground of an office, with colleagues working together at a table behind her. Large white text across the image reads: “Those Who Design AI Shape What It Becomes.” The Collective Agency logo and colorful geometric shapes appear in the corners of the image.
Human Centered AI as the Antidote to Fear and the Path to an Empowered World
If you’ve ever felt unsure about where AI fits into your world, you’re not alone. Some conversations make it sound like machines are taking over, while others promise it will solve everything. Add in worries about AI’s environmental impact, and it’s no wonder people feel overwhelmed or hesitant.
But here’s another way to look at it: what if AI isn’t the problem, but a tool that can help us design broader, more sustainable solutions to our shared struggles? When we approach it through a human-centered lens, AI stops being a source of stress and becomes a way to strengthen our creativity, empathy, and capacity to tackle challenges together.
According to the Interaction Design Foundation, “Human-centered AI (HCAI) refers to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that prioritize human needs, values, and capabilities at the core of their design and operation. This approach ensures teams create AI systems that enhance human abilities and well-being rather than replacing or diminishing human roles. It addresses AI's ethical, social, and cultural implications and ensures these systems are accessible, usable, and beneficial to all segments of society.” (source)
This framing: AI as a tool to enhance rather than replace us was echoed throughout the AI-Powered Women conference at MIT (huge thank you to Felicia Newhouse, PhD. and her team that made it possible!) where we had the chance to learn from incredible women leaders across tech, ethics, culture, and business. For us, a key takeaway was clear: human-centered AI isn’t about surrendering our work and livelihoods to machines. It’s about employing technology to strengthen what makes us most human: our creativity, our empathy, our ancient wisdom, our ability to play and be curious, as well as, our capacity for connection and community. Even more, it doesn’t just mean usability, or fairness, it means deeply thinking: Who are we designing with? Whose wisdom, whose stories, whose histories are included or excluded, and how are we designing AI to be a good steward of those stories and wisdom?
A digital graphic with pink, purple, and orange circuit patterns layered over a photo of a woman weaving a textile. The combined imagery shows the interaction of past and future. In the center, bold white text reads: “AI can’t replace the unique experience and value you bring to the service.” A small star icon appears in the upper left corner.
Ancestral & Cultural Wisdom
Something we really appreciated about the conference was how it strived to weave in ancestral practices, ancient knowing, and lessons from our past:
As we entered the tent for lunch on the first day, there were African dancers and drumming welcoming us; practices that evolved over thousands of years, carrying patterns of community, rhythm, memory.
Panelists discussed how ancient cultures and present day indigenous cultures remind us that many peoples have long understood the interconnectedness of every layer of our world, and that knowing has direct relevance as we shape the interconnected layers of our technological present.
Panelists spoke about how the gifts we have now are legacies of ancestors; not just metaphorically, but concretely: language, ritual, story, ways of knowing, and our ability to shape our world, and the capacity for our world (and AI) to shape us.
One panelist talked about her work with an organization preserving dying languages. This is powerful: done thoughtfully and carefully, we can preserve ancient wisdom and ensure those rich voices are woven into our technology as we build it.
This ancestral strand connects with HCAI because it shows that respecting history, culture, and deep human context matters. (not as decoration, but as essential architecture of innovation) How beautiful is that? Just think, we have the power to use AI in our businesses in a way that connects us even more deeply to our ancestors, and in a way that supports the preservation of that connection across the world...
Two Practical Takeaways for Business Owners
One of the most empowering parts of the conference was how tangible the advice felt. Ashley Gross one of the speakers and AI Strategist gave us these two most important takeaways and we agree that every small business owner can use them to make work more enjoyable:
Get very clear on the problem you want AI to solve.
Define the problem with precision, and be intentional with your words. Be crystal clear: what problem you have, for which people, under what conditions. Define your words: what do you mean by “customer experience,” “efficiency,” “authenticity,” etc. When you’re specific, you can identify which tools actually enhance your brand and what you do - and avoid wasting time on flashy but irrelevant tech.*Bonus tip - when you design for “edge cases”, customer situations that maybe aren’t typical but that do come up (like a customer service chatbot uses language that isn’t clear when English is your second language), you improve the experience for everyone - in this example, making language more plain makes it clearer for everyone, which translates into more satisfied customers.
Make a detailed list of your tasks.
Separate the repetitive, low-creativity, low empathy tasks from the ones that require your unique human touch - not just the human qualities that everyone shares, but the perspective you bring that is only yours. The first category is where AI can truly help - freeing your time and energy. The second is where you’re irreplaceable. (Pro tip: get a second set of eyes on this task list - someone else may see opportunities you missed.)
By doing this, you’ll see more clearly how AI can become a support system, not a replacement. You can move from problem to strategy to action - action that frees you up to slow down and see what seeds are waiting in your business to be grown and shared with the world.
A Note on Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of the real concerns around AI. No tool is risk-free, but there are a couple of settings and habits that can go a long way in protecting your work and your community
Go into your AI tool’s settings and identify if it gives you the ability to turn off permissions that allow training on your data. ChatGPT has this setting. When you turn it off, it doesn't take the data in your chats and use it to train the model everyone uses. If you discover that your tool doesn't provide that option, it's a good prompt to look into the details of how your data is used by that tool, and decide whether you are comfortable with the security it does offer.
Avoid freely sharing proprietary, personal, or cultural data via “share” or collaborative features unless you understand how that data will be handled, stored, and whether it might become publicly discoverable on the web. For example, in ChatGPT, if you use the "Share" button at the top of the page, what you share becomes indexed and discoverable using a basic Google search.
For more practical, approachable guidance on this, check out Bertha Asare on LinkedIn. She was one of the many incredible speakers at the conference and she is both super knowledgeable and incredibly relatable when it comes to cybersecurity.
Why Human-Centered AI Matters
According to the Interface report, women globally make up about 22% of AI professionals, with even lower percentages at senior levels. interface-eu.org Data about Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous experts is harder to pin down with consistent global metrics, but multiple reports agree that these groups are significantly underrepresented. If the teams building AI , and the data sets used to train AI, don’t reflect humanity in all its diversity, the tools created can’t serve all of us.
That’s why human-centered AI matters. It reminds us to ask: who benefits, and who’s left out? For small business owners, it means choosing tools that align with your values, evaluating them with care, and using them in ways that center the experience of your customers and the impact your business has on our shared community.
Three young women sit around a table, smiling and giving each other a group high-five. A laptop and phone rest on the table in front of them. They appear to be collaborating and celebrating a shared success. Bright geometric graphic shapes in pink, yellow, blue, and white are layered in the bottom left corner of the image.
A Hopeful Vision Of The Future
At the end of the day, human-centered AI leadership isn’t just about managing risk or avoiding harm, it’s about opening possibility for all. It invites us to ask:
How can AI help us become more powerfully ourselves?
How can it free up space for creativity, play, and innovation?
How can it give us back time for rest and relationship?
And it invites us to ask of ourselves:
How can each of us take action to ensure everyone - not just a select few - not only gets access to these opportunities but are involved at every stage of AI design?
How can we demonstrate that tapping ancestral knowledge and tapping the voices of the many instead of the few actually results in better outcomes for everyone - and more sustainable businesses?
If we use these questions are our true north as we work with and on AI, then AI stops being something to fear and becomes a tool to amplify care, curiosity, and courage. It becomes a call to step even more fully into our power, and truly and directly shape the world we live in and the course our business takes. And maybe - just maybe - it can help us create a future that’s more human than ever.
A large lecture hall filled with people at the AI-Powered Women’s Conference at MIT listening to Beth Porter, Head of Studio at C10 Labs and MIT/BU instructor, speaking on stage. She stands in front of a screen displaying a slide titled “What Value is Created From Your Data?” The audience sits in colorful green, blue, and purple seats, many taking notes or using laptops. The stage has wooden paneling, floral arrangements, and two white chairs set up for discussion. A large pipe organ is visible in the background.
Closing Question: Your Invitation
As you go forward with your business, your work, your creative path we offer these questions to sit with:
What AI tools would allow me to be more fully myself?
Which ones would free me up to lean into what only I bring?
What actions can I take to make sure others - my customers, my community - have access to the same opportunities? ( A couple ideas might be choosing AI tools that align with my values, amplifying organizations that help more people pursue AI careers, etc. - the possibilities are practically endless!)
When we lead with human-centered AI, the future isn’t about losing work or financial stability, it’s about doubling down on our humanity, what is irreplaceable in each of us, and shaping tech so it serves us and brings prosperity to everyone.
We’d love to hear from you. Comment below and share your thoughts on these questions. Your reflections help us build conversations, and solutions that are grounded in real life!
In Community,
Chandra + Tricia
Collective Agency
