An open letter: My pledge to responsible and ethical AI

It won’t come as a surprise, given what I do, that I think generative AI will reshape our world and offer unprecedented opportunities to enhance how we live and work. 

Through Ten Past Tomorrow, I dedicated myself to understanding and sharing how this technology can be integrated into our businesses. 

Not just effectively, but ethically.

I believe AI’s potential is boundless, and therefore so too must be our commitment to using it responsibly. 

As I guide businesses and their leaders through this new terrain, the focus can’t just be on leveraging AI for profit; it must also be about ensuring that any and all applications my clients and I deploy respect and enrich human lives. 

I see generative AI as a momentous shift in business — perhaps the greatest our generation will see — and I am here to help New Zealand’s SMEs navigate this future with responsibility and integrity.

My approach to AI

A large part of my role as an AI consultant is to clearly communicate my priorities around AI and ethical values. 

Here’s how I think about and implement AI…

• Human-centric AI: Every piece of advice I give, every strategy I devise, begins and ends with people. I champion AI technologies that augment human effort, ensuring wherever possible that AI tools enhance (as opposed to replace) the human touch.
  
  
• Integrity and fairness: I am committed to helping clients understand bias in AI; aiming for systems that are as fair as they are intelligent. This means rigorous education about the risks of bias within AI, and continuous refinement of how clients select and use AI tools, to uphold fairness for all users.
  
  
• Transparent use: I believe in clarity over convenience. It’s crucial that everyone affected — clients, their customers, and wider stakeholders — understand how AI operates and impacts them. This transparency fosters trust and facilitates better decision-making.
  
  
• Secure and private: Respecting privacy and securing data are non-negotiables in my work. I advocate for and implement the highest standards of data security in every AI solution I endorse.
  
  
• Accountable practices: My policies are clear… that clients (and any users of AI) are accountable for the AI they promote and implement. For me, this means helping clients build structured, well-documented usage policies (both internal and external facing) and approaches that align with ethical guidelines and legal requirements.
• Environmental impacts: The environmental impact of deploying AI is also at the forefront of my considerations. I seek and suggest solutions that balance innovation with ecological consciousness.

Living these principles

Implementing responsible AI is not a checkbox exercise. It is a continuous commitment to ethical practice. 

Here’s how I maintain that continuity “in my own backyard”, within Ten Past Tomorrow…

• Proactive risk management: Before I deploy any AI tools or platforms internally for my own usage in Ten Past Tomorrow processes and workflows, I evaluate potential risks and strategise how to mitigate them, ensuring my own AI readiness and resilience remains current.
  
  
• Educational commitment: I am dedicated to staying informed and keeping my clients knowledgeable about the latest in AI, helping us all make better, more ethical decisions. What does this look like? The first 90 minutes of most work days begins with reading, listening to and analysing the AI developments of the past 24 hours. The technology is moving so fast, that this is an essential daily commitment of mine, a practice that means I can keep my clients abreast of the most meaningful AI opportunities and challenges as they eventuate.
  
  
• Ongoing vigilance: I continually review and refine my approaches, ensuring they meet the highest standards of ethical practice.
  
  

AI is a powerful tool, and like all powerful tools, it requires careful, considered handling. 

At Ten Past Tomorrow, I am committed to setting a benchmark for how AI should be approached — ethically, responsibly, and with a human-centric focus.

If you share these values and are keen to explore how AI can responsibly transform your business, I would be thrilled to chat with you.

Warm regards,

Mark Laurence
Ten Past Tomorrow