As AI continues to reshape industries, the focus must shift toward creating systems that uplift human dignity and creativity. Michelle Jawando, president of the Omidyar Network, emphasizes that “technology at its highest zenith should dignify labor, augment human creativity, and center humanity.” Learn how organizations can harness AI to empower workers, build trust, and support human flourishing — ensuring technology becomes a tool for shared power, equitable prosperity, and expansive possibility rather than a force for exclusion or displacement.
As AI continues to reshape industries, the focus must shift toward creating systems that uplift human dignity and creativity. Michelle Jawando, president of the Omidyar Network, emphasizes that “technology at its highest zenith should dignify labor, augment human creativity, and center humanity.”
Learn how organizations can harness AI to empower workers, build trust, and support human flourishing — ensuring technology becomes a tool for shared power, equitable prosperity, and expansive possibility rather than a force for exclusion or displacement.
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Nichol: Welcome to the A IHI project. I'm Nichol Bradford SHRM's, executive in residence for AI plus. Hi. Thanks for joining us. This week we're exploring what it really means to build a future of work and a future society where technology serves humanity. Our guest is Michelle Jawando, president of the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm shaping the digital revolution.
Towards shared power, prosperity, and possibility. Michelle brings a powerful lens on how we can make emerging technologies inclusive and profoundly human. Michelle, welcome to the A IHI project.
Michele: Nicole, it's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
Nichol: Uh, congratulations are in order. Um, and I would love for you to tell our audience, uh, about your new role and, and [00:01:00] also what the Omidyar Foundation is doing around AI and the future of tech, work, and society.
Michele: Well, Nicole, again, thank you so much. It is a pleasure to spend time with you and your audience today. Um, this is such a powerful addition to a conversation that really needs to happen and the fact that you're able to do this, um, on a weekly basis. You have. More time than Beyonce, I think, uh, to get everything done.
So congratulations to you and your team on this. Um, I'm so excited. Last month I was, um, introduced as the new president of Omidyar Network. Um, and it's really been a moment of deep personal. Fulfillment and professional fulfillment, all, all meeting at the same time. when I think about technology and the opportunity that we have to open up spaces so everyone feels like they can belong. This moment feels particularly important, [00:02:00] um, and necessary for us to think about how do we create those conditions that everyone can participate and so that everyone can feel like they can belong. so a lot of the work that we're doing at the Omidyar Network is. Whether it's in government or working with our philanthropic partners, or working with grantees or with the private sector, we are focused on asking the question, is at the table?
Who benefits, who's not here? Who should be here? Who's bearing the risk, and what needs to change and create the condition so that everyone has valuable input. And I think that level of intentionality is so necessary. Because if we don't do that, we fall into the same traps that befall us before and we want to change that scenario.
Nichol: And your leadership has always centered justice and inclusion. How does that shape the way you think about technological change and its impact on people's lives and [00:03:00] livelihoods?
Michele: Yeah. You know, for me that lens is really the central thesis of how I have always come to participate in this work. Um. I believe firmly. Technological change is never neutral. It really reflects the perspectives of those who are building. Um, and I think for far too long we've been isolated in who was at the table as we build, and what voices are we listening to. And if we have conversations, particularly here in the US about freedom, well, we're not really expanding the table if there are only a few discreet voices. I. Who are making the choices of how all of us experience technology. And so our work is really how do we broaden that table? How do we build. products and new companies and new ways of doing this work. I [00:04:00] am one of those people who is widely, wildly optimistic about this moment. Um, I believe that technology can be a force for good, but we have to be intentional about those choices. And so we have the moment. This is our decision. These are the decision points that we get to make, and I think that's where we're trying to really push that there's power, there's agency that we all have, and we can make intentional choices for this moment.
Nichol: I love that. So our audience at SHRM are HR leaders and they are first responders really for.
AI transformation in organizations. They're the ones who are responsible for learning and development. They're the ones who are responsible for getting the fluency up. They're the ones who are doing workforce planning.
I mean, they really are on the front lines of the entire employee [00:05:00] lifecycle. And given the number of people who work at organizations, I mean, United States has a lot of founders and entrepreneurs and you know, sub 100. Um, companies, but there's a large number of people who work at organizations. So, um, that's, that's where our audience is coming from.
And so they're really, you know, trying to, to learn things that help them, you know, get it right for their context, culture, and customers in the companies that they're in. So I, I'd like to. To double click a little bit on power and participation, and then also about AI and the the future of work and who is shaping those systems and like why does that matter, you know, so deeply as it applies to work.
Michele: it's a, it's an excellent question and I think it. I would add that when we start to think about who gets to shape AI systems, it's really a question [00:06:00] of power, and it is, and right now, far too few people hold that power. Far too few people say that there are voices that are important to the development of this moment. Um, and that's why we are so fierce in saying that participation from every sector isn't a nicety, it is a necessity. let's step back and think about just kind of the future of work and the future of human dignity and the future of economic mobility. That can only happen when you have people who are closest to impacted communities who have designed these systems who are leading, um, I Love you, are the light.
What did you say? The lighthouse, uh, keepers, uh, the guiding lights of so many of these companies. reason why you can be that is because you are reflecting all of the voices and the needs of the companies that you [00:07:00] serve. And yet, are we building products? Are we building companies and tools that really reflect those needs? Um, one of our grantees that we work with, I Jpu of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, recently worked with the private sector to develop a large language model. would support the caregiver community, that would help them think about, how do I talk about wages with my employer? How do I think about setting a schedule that's reasonable for both the families that I'm working with and my own personal family? That really centered humanity and human flourishing and the dignity that so many of us get from our places of employment. And so that just little switch where you centered the people who are closest to the work and brought them in at the table at the beginning. Not at the end made such a profound difference, and that's really what [00:08:00] we wanna do.
We wanna shift public interest so that people are at the table, that labor leaders and community organizers and caregivers, and parents and children are at the table as. Technologists and CEOs and programmers and developers and venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, uh, we believe that we can build a table that's wide enough for all of those voices, and each of those voices matter.
Nichol: And one of the things that's been on my mind has been the way that AI is affecting the early career ladder. Some of the signals that we're getting that Brookings has talked about, Molly Kinder and some other people, where a lot of the tasks that AI is doing is sort of that entry level work. And so then what does that mean for college graduates and how do we get as organizations, like how do we get talent pipelines?
[00:09:00] Of bringing in the young people and how do we equip them, um, if the work that they, they did in, you know, the equivalent of their apprenticeships is now done by ai, how do they become someone who can fit into organizations? So it really is something where the, you know, a, a, a round full table is important for us to like actually, you know, figure this out.
So one of the things that I, I've, you know, you've said, I've heard you say is that technology should work for people and, and not the other way around. What does that look like when it's applied to frontline workers and educators or small business owners or these populations, uh, that we've talked about?
Michele: You know, I, I, I think about this, that technology at its highest zenith, at the, the highest, most optimistic way that we can think about it, should really dignify labor. I. [00:10:00] Should augment labor. It shouldn't just be to displace it. think we've made, um, decisions as a society to say that there are roles that we want humans to be in the loop. Right. When we think about what happens, um, in, uh, uh, retail for instance, or healthcare or finance, a certain level of trust when you give the vulnerable information to your care provider and say, this is my health. This is how I, um, am, am understanding the relationship between my healthcare provider and myself as someone who may be going through an issue and there's a trust that we basically, a sacred trust in that relationship. And I think what many people are saying is that I don't want the only people or the only decisions that are in that relationship to [00:11:00] just be automated in these automatic decision systems. I want a human in the loop so that maybe perhaps there are better recommendations. That someone could make or that an AI tool or model could make, but that a human is there to review it, to give me expertise, to give me a different perspective. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, and I think so many of us think about healthcare as a field where we wanna see real change in advancement to kind of cure cancers and help with chronic diseases. Everybody wants that. However, we know that the ingenuity of humankind has helped us to move forward to answer questions that before seemed unattainable.
Why? Because it was our human creative, um, nodes, neural networks that we each have that were functioning. It was our experience. Um, there are. Life experiences that shape each of us, that [00:12:00] give us that constitution that says, there's a question here that I want to help solve. And that motivation has led to amazing outcomes. And I'm sorry I get a little worked up when I think about this. That is really the piece of human flourishing. That is when we are at our best and what we really want is technology to help us to answer these great, great questions, to help us with our curiosity, to support that work, not to displace that creativity. Um, and that's really what we're working to do. I.
Nichol: Yeah, you know, I, uh, I too am really inspired and I'm super inspired, even more inspired now because, uh, we're getting into the hard, what I call the hard. And so the hard is, um, you know, founders are, are really internalizing that your AI wrapper company is only as good as the next upgrade. [00:13:00] Chat, GPT just added meetings last week, which means that Otter five or, uh, fixer, uh, uh, fathom all in danger.
Uh, so it's hard. You have to have a deep problem. You have to solve a deep problem. Not a generic problem. And then similarly in organizations, you know, enterprise has had about two years on implementations. And you know, they've seen the, the field of pilot, you know, the field of pilots, the field of poppies not turn into scalable programs because if you don't have context culture, customers, if you haven't done the, you like actually done the augmentation.
To do the workforce redesign. You don't get to the scalable, uh, programs. And so, uh, so I'm actually excited that we're getting into the nitty gritty and the hard, and people I [00:14:00] hope are moving from, you know, dystopia and utopia to, we actually have to build these things. Now is the time we have to sit down and we actually have to iterate towards, you know, how to, to, to build this future of work.
And so I'm, I'm very excited about how hard it's about to get, 'cause I think that's good, you know, for us. Um, so what I'd love to do is just, you know, talk to you about what you think the future of work might be. You know, like I audience, I had an incredible opportunity to attend an omir program where they brought together.
Technologists and people who write science fiction to envision a, a, a better future because, you know, there's a reason why the flip phone looked like a Star Trek communicator. Like, like, you know, the, the art around us, the stories around us actually really influence us. So, you know, what I love about Omidyar [00:15:00] is that you're so forward thinking.
And so could you, you know, what do you believe the future of work could and should look like if the AI systems were rooted in inclusion, dignity, opportunity, augmentation? Like what is really possible? I.
Michele: So I am one of those people who happen to believe, um, that we can create a future where work is more human, not less. Let me tell you what I mean by that. So I grew up as a Super Star Trek, star Wars. I still am, uh, token Octavia Butler. Um, very, very, very engaged. Like I, that, that is so much of my identity.
In fact, when I wrote about my vision for working, um, and moving into this position, I wrote about. The experiences of being on the living room floor with all of my family and that watching Star Trek, next generation Jean-Luc [00:16:00] Picard, the best Star Trek captain by the way. Um, watching those with my family became both a experience of family connection and it opened my mind to possibility.
And I think the reason why I love Star Trek so much, it wasn't that we had a universal. It wasn't that, um, you could point to the replicator and get any food you wanted. It was that they were using the technology that was created in service of every person in the galaxy that there were such a deep level of respect that in each world and galaxy.
You traveled. It wasn't, this is our technology that makes us better. It is. Is there a way that we can both be in a learning relationship with this community and do we have a system that could support whatever their needs were? And so in my big future, that is what I believe. I believe that there's [00:17:00] an opportunity for us to center humanity. And all of its wonderful quirky ways. If we center humanity and we think about technology as a, as supporting those visions of deep curiosity, of the attainment of knowledge, of thinking about the care and concern for people and planet to think about what it means to have equitable wages and economic mobility, and having these solutions as a part. Of the conversation, but not the conversation changes everything. If we just start with the centering and Molly Kinder, who you mentioned, um, is a great partner for us at Omir Network. If we just start with what is the life cycle of this individual? What do they need from birth to career, to retirement?
What gives people dignity? What makes people feel like flourishing is real? Those are the hard questions and I think we [00:18:00] have to do hard, better, and I think sometimes we are afraid, if I'm honest, Nicole, I think people are afraid to go there because then it makes us question societal decisions we've made. It makes us
ask questions about what policies do we have in place, or what policies are needed. Where are the lines and what do we say it's okay to build versus where we say, let's make a decision not to move in that direction. And so I'm excited because we are stepping into hard and we gotta learn how to do hard better.
Nichol: Mm-hmm.
Michele: if we as a society can come together and develop the skills that are needed to enter into this moment, I think we can come out on the other side with a better future.
But it
Nichol: Yeah,
Michele: take all of us. And it will take some honesty and some transparency and some real intentional choices.
Nichol: I, I have so many chills talking to you. [00:19:00] So I am in science and technology. Because of Star Trek, because I also, you know, sat on the floor with my family and I watched this future that was an actual meritocracy where, um, you know, the business was supporting people all over the galaxy, no matter how many arms or legs they had, that humans, humans had decided that we were on the same team.
We cleaned up our home world, you know, and we were, we were going out there to help. And to explore, and it just resonated with me, with me so much. you know, one of the things that you said that really inspired me too is that, um, you know, if you think, if you just call the headlines to. To mind all of the ambition is around AI as a, as like technology.
It's like I want the ambition around humans. I want the ambition around [00:20:00] humans. And it's one of the reasons why, you know, um, HR leaders are such our precious resource because they're
Michele: That's right.
Nichol: the first responders and they hold the employee lifecycle. All the way from the beginning, you know, to the end, as well as the employee benefits that affect their families.
So SHRM has 340,000 members, and those 340,000 members touch the lives of 362 million workers in their families every Monday. So it's like, you know, so, so we, um, the, you know, the, I believe that the world should really understand that these people, this audience of HR leaders, they're actually like, they're actually the ones.
And if, and if, and if they are well equipped, if, um, you know, if, if they have the support that they need, if, if we assure m you know, help them as we are, um, you know, to, [00:21:00] to, you know. Help that transition. It's really a great tool. And so, um, my next question for you is, um, what are the, like what are the specific types of shifts, whether it's business, government, or philanthropy, that leaders need to make in their mindset?
You know, to, to get to the places, to the place that you've described, you know, so an AI that supports a shared prosperity, like what are one or two specific mental shifts or, or any kind of shifts that they need to make.
Michele: So at Omidyar Network we spent a lot of time thinking about the business of tech. The governance of tech and the culture of tech. Um, so in business, I think many leaders and many folks in your audience are saying, I see this wave coming and I don't know how to get ready. And I think the one thing that they should know is [00:22:00] there are resources from trusted sources that you can lean on.
So for example, one of our grantees is project include. And they do, uh, amazing work as a nonprofit where they're marrying data and advocacy to think about inclusion for the tech industry and for companies. So bespoke solutions to help industry leaders really think about how do I build in a responsible, ethical manner? And I think that's the first thing. Know that you are not alone. And that there are resources and tools and hopefully omi, our network can serve as a resource for people. As you're starting to think about that, and I think that there are a few questions that you, you always want to ask as a leader in this space, I.
What does this mean for our workers? Has this been tested or verified by the independent third party or a third party entity? Um, are what has been a [00:23:00] part of the development process? Have there been community? Has there been any community impact reports? Do we have communities who are helping to build these products and tools? I think everyone, particularly on the enterprise side, is constantly being. Told you have to buy this, and this is backed by AI and it's gonna make everything more efficient. And I think it's okay for folks to take a step back and ask questions and delve into the resources in the communities who could help you answer that question. we think about governance, a great example that I'll just quickly give is Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Worked with OpenAI SEIU and said, Hey, listen, we, we know we wanna do more to make government work for more people. And we've been hearing a lot about chat, GPT and so many others. We'd love to kind of be in partnership, but we also wanna protect the rights of the workers here in government.
And we know that we need [00:24:00] amazing, talented state government employees to help us get this right and so together. Employees from the state of Pennsylvania, and uh, uh, SEIU, who could, who know what it means to support employees and knows what questions to ask and how to protect their rights in the process, work together and came up with tools that 95% of everyone who participated in this demonstration and pilot project said that they would do it again.
It would increase their efficiency, that it saved. Time, but it was crafted at the beginning with workers, with labor and with the private sector. It is a beautiful example of policy makers saying who was missing for the solutions that are needed. And I think that's what we have to continue to build. And finally, in culture, um. You've been a part of the conversations we're having with the leaders who are helping to shape the ideas and the narratives [00:25:00] that we hold dear. We wanna tell a new story about technology and not just one about killer robots. We wanna talk about what does it mean and what will it take, and what are the conditions that are necessary to get us to think about exploring the galaxy and opening up our ideas of what's possible. Right now we are kind of stuck in a imagination of extractivism. Using people and ignoring people in service of building more and more. we wanna break that up and we wanna have new ideas and we want new examples. And so we are working with writers and artists and technologists and poets, um, to write new stories. Uh, to give us examples so that we can see and we can hear. We're working with musicians and artists so that we can hear and tell new stories about the future we want, and then we're going out to build them. Uh, and we're working with technologists and [00:26:00] artists and storytellers and we're working with, um, programmers and developers who are hearing those stories and then saying, Hey, I think I can build that. I think I can create that tool. So we have a team, the tech you want. The tech we want that hears these new stories, creates these new worlds, and then says, let's build the companies and the products and the tools that will get us there.
Nichol: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. We have. We have so much to talk about. Um, but I do wanna share some. So, SHRM does amazing research and, uh, we're really fortunate. We have a, we have an incredible research team and every month we go out to workers, uh, not just in the United States, but around the world and find out what they're thinking.
And so, you know, in the us seven out of 10 US workers who use ai agree that it enables them to accomplish more. In less time and produce higher quality work. Um, and, and so we're [00:27:00] seeing that like there's, there's a lot of interest in, in learning more. And I think the stories, the way that you've described them, I think that really helps people, you know, imagine what, you know, what the, what the potential might be.
The other thing that you said that I wanna reflect back on is, um, the o the other thing that excites me about AI provided we approach it in a responsible way and have some of the mindsets that you talked about, is that in the past there were things that on a societal level, we wanted, you know, many people wanted to do.
And the argument was always that there wasn't enough resource. What this does is it actually provides the resource, it actually makes it possible. So I feel this sort of, actually in the first time, the first time in in decades, we actually have the ability to make fundamental [00:28:00] changes. And the thing about AI is that because it's a systemic shift, it requires holistic solutions.
And it requires solutions that address systemic, like a systemic shift. And ai, because of the ability to take structured and unstructured data, we also for the first time really have the ability to see the interdependencies that allow us to create actual change. So it's really, it's, it's a, it's a super exciting time.
And so, you know, you've talked a little bit about the projects that you're investing in and, and, um, you know, and how Omidyar is, you know, taken this, uh, uh, sort of theory of change and value chain really, and how you're placing bets all along the way. Um, for our audience, you know, they're HR leaders.
They're out there. They're, you know, they're doing it right now. [00:29:00] What sort of frameworks that you've come across can help us prioritize worker voice, long-term impact, ethical use? Like what are things that they can take away with them?
Michele: there are so many leaders, um, that are a part of the, uh, um. The audience that are participating in a with us here today, and often people want, like, what are some tangibles that I can take away? So let me just give that, um, work with your employees and not around them. I think a lot of time what we've seen are executives who say, I have to deploy this tool. Without getting input from their employees. Often that only deepens the distrust and it lowers the potential that employees will use the tools that are deployed to help because there's this distrust that has already been built and that also just kind of displaces work and. Your [00:30:00] overall effectiveness and efficiency.
So let's focus on what can you do to bring workers in at the very beginning to empower people? Um, a ai. AI is often thought about as a kind of top down deployment, and I think you have to. Break that up. Um, this is about human impact and who are the communities that will be affected. And so your leaders are the ones who can say, Hey, before we deploy that tool, let's make sure that we have a, a really broad swath of our employees who can help us think about what are the needs. What are the challenges that we're trying to solve? And then let's build for that. Let's build for those challenges versus this kind of esoteric fear. Um, I think of the, uh, last things that I'll say is that the companies that we see that are getting AI right, are ones that are built with partnership.
And what that often means is often [00:31:00] there is the, like initial deployment. What happens is people say, okay, I'm done. Like we're, we're done. But you don't wanna stop there. Actually, the initial deployment of any tool or project is just gonna be the first step you really wanna think about, okay, what's missing?
How can I reiterate? What's the pivot? That is who we are as humans. We create, we pivot, we shift, we make changes. Why can't we think about building the technology that are, that is influencing our lives and businesses in the same way. So don't just settle for whatever you have. You have the right, there is a better way. Um, and I think we can do that together.
Nichol: so our last question that we always ask is, you know, so our audience, they've heard our conversation, and what do they do on Monday?
Michele: Mm-hmm.
Nichol: What, what's the one thing that they can do on Monday that you would suggest that they should do based on, on what we've talked about?
Michele: First [00:32:00] thing, take a deep breath.
You're not behind the eight ball. You're not behind the curve. There is. There is no wave. You are the wave. Okay? I think that's the first thing. Reclaim your agency in this moment. You are okay. So that's the first thing I would say. Monday, take a deep breath. And then the second thing I would do is I would identify four or five leaders across different spaces in the company, not all from the same tier. Some at the beginning, some closer towards the end of their professional career, and really start to think about what are the questions or the challenges that we as a company want to solve? where would you wanna see creative innovative solutions emerge? And what would that look like? What would that feel like? We where, where would you feel like your day is better because you did X?
Nichol: Mm.
Michele: so having those kind of core worker [00:33:00] collaboratives in those groups who are informing actually what you need, only, you know, you are the, the leaders of these organizations. You are closest to the problems. And too often we separate the people who understand from the solutions that we're trying to build. Let's break that up and let's really center the people who understand the problems with the people who can help to build and bring all of those voices together. So I would say do that. And then the third thing that I would say is just take some time to also. Play with one or two tools that are available for free. I think there's a lot of talk about all of the AI tools that are out there and people are afraid to use them, and I totally understand that. But this technology can also be transformative and sometimes you have to kind of play in the mud. I have four kids, sometimes I'm like, go out in the mud, [00:34:00] get dirty.
Fall down and then come back and mommy's right here. We'll fix that. we'll, figure out how you can better understand what just happened. And I think it is important for us to kind of play with these same tools, to think about what we actually want to have happen versus what's just happening to us.
So take your agency back, take a deep breath, and bring in the people who are closest to these challenges and build it together.
Nichol: So good. So good. And, and that's it for this week's episode. A big thank you to Michelle for sharing your powerful vision for a more inclusive, just, and human-centered future. Before we wrap up, I encourage you all to. Follow the A IHI project. Wherever you enjoy your podcast. If today's conversation inspired you, please leave a review, share with your network and help us spread the word.
You can also find all of our episodes at SHRM dot org slash ihi. Thanks [00:35:00] for joining the conversation and let's keep building a future where technology serves all of us. Catch you next time.