What is HumanKind AI? A message from Doug Lessing

The start of a new chapter with HumanKind AI

You have likely seen me talking a whole lot about our latest venture HumanKind AI (https://4humankind.ai). I'm sure there are plenty of questions surrounding this new company. I know I owe everyone a more lengthy article, but I'm kind of moving too fast to write it, so here goes for a brief update!

I've been an AI enthusiast since the late '80s, when I wrote my first AI program as a computer science student in college.  Over the past several years, I have been an AI optimist, and also, an AI realist. I see the potential and understand the harm. As we created Phin, we took an AI-first approach to build an efficient organization. That gave me a front-row seat to the progress and adoption of Gen-AI as it rolled out to the public.

Last fall, I had an epiphany. I could see the disruption and anxiety that AI would inevitably cause employees and leaders alike. I could see how it could upend years of careful nurturing of company culture. Since Phin is all about company culture, I decided that we could not remain on the sideline. We had to go straight into the belly of the beast and help pave the way for good people and great companies to join the AI revolution, or risk being left behind. We had to be at this forefront of designing companies and their culture for the future.

So we invented HumanKind AI. At HumanKind AI, we believe that we can deploy AI as a benefit for humans and society. We are an AI training and consulting company with the goal of educating company leaders, employees, socially conscious entrepreneurs, and nonprofit organizations on how best to harness the power of AI to improve their businesses. 

HumanKind AI is a sister company to Phin, under the same parent public benefit corporation, Phin Social Enterprises PBC. Let me reassure you, Phin is now self-sustaining and growing. Our clients continue to do remarkable work with our platform and we absolutely love running it, twisting it, and making the platform do things we never before dreamed of. We have donated millions of dollars in company-funded donations to charities around the world and continue to invest in the platform.

In its short history, HumanKind AI has educated over 300 people through our free AI at Work for Humans workshops. We have launched a private AI coaching practice for executives - kind of like a personal fitness trainer, but for AI tailored for each client. And we have an AI consulting practice based on my decades of consulting experience with my beloved past company, Firebrand Technologies.

They may seem like disparate businesses, but in fact, I have a clear, unifying vision for these sister companies: Both Phin and HumanKind AI help leaders build great companies of the future, inspired by humans, designed to benefit society.

You can learn more at https://4humankind.ai