A Foundation for What’s Next
How 2020 Focused AI4ALL’s Work and Shaped Our Future
This month, AI4ALL released Nurturing Today’s Leaders, Ensuring AI’s Future: AI4ALL’s Work In 2020. The report looks back at that unique year, which served up significant challenges for the students we serve, our team, our partners, and our organization, but that also provided us the opportunity to focus on the most important elements of AI4ALL’s work and accelerate the organization’s impact in those areas.
We invited Interim CEO Emily Reid and Tess Posner, who stepped back from her CEO role at the end of 2021, to reflect on 2020’s lessons and how they lay the foundation for AI4ALL’s next evolution.
AI4ALL: Of all the things that grew and changed for AI4ALL in 2020, what are you most proud of?
Emily Reid: The student population we serve was most affected by the pandemic and remote schooling and things like that. So we had to take a step back and ask, “What’s our role in this space? How can AI4ALL best support in this moment?”
Tess Posner: Even though there were so many things going on and it was so uncertain, people really stepped up and wanted to serve the students first and foremost. It was a communal effort with AI4ALL and our community of partners.
Emily: It came down to listening to our teachers, our students, our partners, and trying to pivot what we were offering to what they needed.
Tess: And it was not just about going virtual. It was about creating student-centered bite-sized content that was accessible, making more flexible schedules, and creating supportive community groups. We were so grateful that in a difficult year, we were still able to grow and launch College Pathways, which was incredible and thanks to our team, partners, and supporters.
AI4ALL: What organizational lessons came from navigating the pandemic?
Tess: It brought our mission to the front and center, and shone a light on how we want to go about things. We tried to lead with empathy, to embrace the waves of change, and to be open-minded because we did not know what was coming. We really came back to how we embody our values.
Emily: The team was so inclusive and thoughtful about it. Our remote-friendly policies helped us manage the move to pandemic work.
Tess: We tried to see the humans within our organization first, and to understand that everyone’s needs are different.
Emily: I do think there will be elements of the before-times that we’ll come back to, but I think there are things that are changing for good. We’ll always need to have processes that are adaptable to students and teachers and partners. This time has helped us be more agile and more ready for whatever the world serves up next.
AI4ALL: How did 2020 lay the groundwork for 2021 and beyond?
Tess: The pandemic required us to really think about sustainability and our long-term game — we couldn’t rely on the way things were. We have limited resources and we need to focus those on what matters most. We became more data-driven, more focused on scalability and what has the highest impact, and how we could streamline and improve our business operations.
Emily: We also tried to really essentialize. What would be the absolute key for us to radically change how AI is being developed? And our students are the change agents. If we support their leadership, that network effect will be enormous.
Tess: We clarified that as the core need, because we want to make sure there’s diversity in the leadership of AI — who has the power to change AI, and who are the people actually shaping its future?
AI4ALL: What is your biggest hope for AI4ALL’s future?
Emily: That we are part of the radical course correction needed to make AI work for humanity. If we have this large, diverse, new generation of AI changemakers who are thinking about ethics and the social impact of their work from the very beginning of their education, that’s going to make all the difference.
Tess: This is a solution that is very tangible and very inspiring. The young people of today do have the agency and power to truly shape the world they want to create. My hope is that AI4ALL can have a big influence, not just with the students that go on to create waves in the AI field, but also as an example of what’s possible when we believe in young people and their potential.
Emily: The problem we’re trying to solve is really complex, and it’s systemic, and requires a unique, thoughtful response to get it right and try to fix it. This is not just about teaching kids about AI, it’s about building up supportive ecosystems around these students so they can then go on to serve humanity.
Tess: An organization goes through multiple stages in its evolution. AI4ALL is moving into a new phase of growth with one of the strongest, most talented teams I’ve ever worked with, and a stable foundation built on funding partners, corporate partners, university partners, and a talented board. This organization is successful and strong and ready for what’s next.
Check out Nurturing Today’s Leaders, Ensuring AI’s Future: AI4ALL’s Work In 2020, and join AI4ALL March 7 and 8 for AI’s Future, Reimagined, a celebration of AI4ALL’s first five years and an opportunity to learn more about our vision for the next five years.
