In Summary
- AI is evolving rapidly, but many organisations are struggling to keep up.
- Many organisatons risk adopting tools without considering the real human impact. Data and AI should be used intentionally, starting with customer needs.
- Ethical, transparent, and customer-focused design is key to ensuring AI is not just effective but also safe and sustainable.
We’re living in a moment where every headline promises a bold new future shaped by AI, from Bill Gates claiming ‘AI will replace teachers and doctors within 10 years’ to ‘Will AI save the news?’.
Tools are moving faster than most organisations can keep up with, and data is being gathered at a scale that would have felt unimaginable just a few years ago. But amidst all this progress, a key question remains unanswered: are we building a future that people actually want?
Over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to work with teams wrestling with this challenge. The promise of AI is massive—but so is the risk of misusing it, or implementing it in ways that solve internal problems while creating friction for customers. And, too often, data is treated like a magic bullet, rather than what it really is: a raw material that only becomes valuable when you know how to shape it.
What’s becoming clear is this: the organisations that will thrive aren’t the ones who simply adopt AI, or gather the most data. It’s the ones that take a human-centred, intentional approach to how these tools are used.
Reframing how we use technology
This starts by shifting the mindset. Instead of asking, “what can this technology do?”, we need to ask, “what problem are we trying to solve for our customers?” and “how might this help us do that better?”.
It also means rethinking how we work with data. Too often, data strategies are inward-facing: built to optimise operations or report to the Board. But the most powerful data strategies I’ve seen are outward-facing. They begin with customer needs and behaviours, and they support teams to act on those insights—quickly, ethically, and with purpose.
Designing AI with people in mind
When it comes to AI, the stakes are even higher. The temptation is to leap ahead, to automate, predict and personalise at scale. But without the right guardrails, we risk creating systems that are opaque, biased, or simply unhelpful. A customer-centric lens doesn’t just make AI more effective—it makes it safer, more ethical, and more sustainable in the long term.
Of course, none of this is easy. It requires collaboration between disciplines, a shift in culture, and sometimes a rethinking of what ‘success’ looks like. But I believe this is the real opportunity in front of us: not just using AI to do what we already do at a faster pace, but using it to do better things—things that are grounded in real human value.
This is the kind of future worth shaping.
Join the conversation on Data and AI
Hear more from Susannah about all things Data and AI at Transforming Public Services 2025 on 8thMay. Come along to the leadership session “Data: Get your organisation’s data in the right place to innovate – building the foundations for a deep, data-led transformation” to hear more about how you can make Data and AI work for people, create better services and truly thrive.