AI Stewardship
Practice Program
Develop the personal and shared practices you need to navigate unprecedented technological change.
Tech has never moved so quickly —
or asked so much from leaders.
Stewarding powerful technologies can't be about having the correct answers. It must be about continuously improving how we make decisions along the way.
Success will take more than new principles, tools, or even policies.
It will take new practices.
We’ve worked with hundreds of leaders over the past 10 years to develop the shared practice we need to steward positive change.
Stewardship Practice
We can reclaim the space we need to pause, reflect, and engage with others as we navigate the deep divisions and tensions in our work.
Stewardship is the practice of...
Orienting to an evolving landscape
Exploring new perspectives
Deliberating tensions between perspectives
Illuminating alternate ways forward
Why Stewardship for AI?
The speed and scale of AI development and impacts are consistently overwhelming our abilities to adapt and respond effectively.
The confidence and ability to negotiate tensions between dominant systems, incentives, and worldviews surrounding AI is no longer a nice to have.
We need new practices designed to meet these challenges. Stewardship is one of them.
Who is this program for?
The program is for any leader who is actively engaging with AI and who wants to help shape its evolution for the better.
This includes researchers, entrepreneurs, adopters, creators, educators, policymakers, and advocates.
Our community of practice’s strength is in its diversity.
What to expect
The AI Stewardship Practice Program is not training on AI; it is training to help leaders navigate a world defined by it.
This 6 week guided journey introduces you to Stewardship Practice with a focus on AI.
Week 1: Oct 22 — Intro to AI Stewardship
Week 2: Oct 29 — Orienting
Week 3: Nov 5 — Exploring
Week 4: Nov 12 — Deliberating
Week 5: Nov 19 — Illuminating
Week 6: Nov 26 — Continuing Practice
You’ll be introduced to core concepts, learn from real-life exemplars, participate in live coaching, engage with sample cases, complete exercises, and connect with other participants
Complete the course and earn a micro-credential to demonstrate your commitment to stewardship practice in the age of AI.
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Synchronous Zoom sessions
6 x 90 min Zoom calls (Tuesdays 1–2:30pm ET)
first session Oct 22 / last session Nov 26
recorded for those who can't attend -
Weekly emails
including recommended resources -
Online discussion board
connect, share, and support -
Generative AI exercises
with written guide and suggested prompts -
Practice Circles
opportunity to join small groups to go deeper in your practice
What leaders are saying about Tech Stewardship
“Too often technological development is focused on frivolous purposes when there is so much to be done to meet our sustainable development challenges.”
Mary Wells, Dean, Waterloo Engineering
“The creators and designers of technology have the right to interrogate the ethics of what they are developing. But our ethics only extend as far as our lines of inquiry. More responsible technology starts when we grant ourselves and each other the permission to inquire.”
Martin Ryan, Strategy & Stewardship, ServiceNow
“Diversity and inclusion is critical to both the means and ends of tech stewardship. To start we must combat the ‘myth of rationality’ in engineering and tech fields that has for too long created a headwind against substantive change.”
Marisa Sterling, P.Eng. – Past President, Professional Engineers Ontario
“To find regenerative paths forward, there is an opportunity to dance with different ways of knowing. Instead of choosing sides, we can enter a reflective space that welcomes a third presence where we combine insights from both.””
Melanie Goodchild – Co-Founder, Turtle Island Institute
Funding Partners
Facilitation Partners
FAQ
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What is AI Stewardship?
AI Stewardship is the application of stewardship practices to better navigate and help shape the rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence landscape towards benefit for all.
The essence of stewardship is the four practices of Orienting, Exploring, Deliberating, and Illuminating. These practices help us become conscious of our own perspectives / worldviews, appreciate those of others, see tensions between different perspectives / worldviews as sources of generative potential, which can illuminate new possible pathways forward.
Stewardship practices can help us in all aspects of our life.
We choose to focus on technology because of its pervasiveness and the degree to which its impacts on all aspects or our life and world are often under appreciated.
We choose to focus on AI technologies specifically because they are currently disrupting all aspects of our lives and world. -
Who developed these concepts and who is behind this program?
Starting in 2015, a coalition of diverse engineers, technologists and creators began meeting around the question: how can we ensure technology is beneficial for all? So far, over 350 leaders from 150 organizations have contributed deeply to shaping tech stewardship as a response, and thousands more have contributed.
This program is the next step in that journey — furthering the evolution of both core stewardship practices, and their specific application to AI.
As you engage with this program, we invite you to join the growing community of leaders who are shaping the concept of Tech / AI Stewardship and the shared infrastructure to support our collective practice. -
What if I've already completed the Tech Stewardship Practice Program?
If you've already completed the Tech Stewardship Practice Program, that's great! It doesn't rule you out from participating in the AISPP pilot.
This program will give you an opportunity to focus on AI and continue to strengthen your overall stewardship practices. -
What will the program look like / how will it be delivered?
On October 15th, you will gain access to the program platform and some initial welcome and program overview materials.
The weekly 90 minute synchronous session will begin on October 22nd. Videos of the content from each weekly session and supporting materials will be uploaded within 48hrs of each session.
If you can't make some or any of the sessions, you can watch the videos and complete the activities asynchronously through the platform.
We will assess completion and award micro-credentials based on your attendance at the 6 synchronous sessions, or your engagement with the materials on the platform. -
How long / how much effort will the program take?
The program is estimated to require a minimum of 9 hours of effort, which is equal to you attending all 6 of the 90 synchronous sessions, and/or watching the videos and completing the activities on your own using the platform if you're unable to attend.
There are (optional) opportunities for you to go deeper, including:
- participation on the Community Boards
- engaging with suggested resources (papers, tools, communities)
- participate in a Practice Circle (small groups who meet periodically to discuss the content and support each other). Practice Circles will add on average 6hrs to the overall experience. -
Is this just for technical or non-technical folks?
It's for both! The program is open to anyone and is designed to break down silos by creating common language and shared practice. It is for those:
-> Who focus on the creation and application of AI (engineers, computer scientists, technologists)
-> Who focus on scaling and providing access to AI (entrepreneurs, business people)
-> Who study the nature of AI and seek to regulate its impacts (policy makers, social scientists)
-> Who reflect on our past, present and future (futurists, artists, historians)
And for anyone else who wants to help play their part in bending the arc of AI towards good! -
Is this about all AI, or just Generative AI?
No! The program is intended to support people who are working in different ways (research, innovation, adoption, education, policy, advocacy) to shape the evolution of all forms of AI and its integration into different sectors, communities, and professions.
LLMs and Generative AI represents an exciting new frontier of technological development and, therefore, will receive a good amount of focus.
As part of the pilot, we will test Generative AI as a means of supporting stewardship practice. -
Are there opportunities to get more involved / collaborate?
Absolutely! Tech Stewardship is not one organization or a trademarked term; it is a concept that has emerged from and continues to be shaped by a diverse community.
We'd love to explore with you opportunities to introduce Tech / AI Stewardship Practice into your organizations and communities, and to discuss opportunities for you to take a more central role in guiding and governing the Tech Stewardship initiative itself. -
How will the results from this pilot be used?
It is our intention that this program will both lead to a scalable version of the AISPP, and will inform updates to our existing programming (the TSPP and TS+ETP).
We will also leverage the pilot to explore collaboration opportunities and welcome new leaders into our strategy team, which helps evolve the Theory of Change of the Tech Stewardship Initiative and guides its activities.