A Post from CAPE Board President Kyle Johnson
Kyle Johnson, CAPE Board President
Originally posted on Kyle Johnson’s LinkedIn.
If you look at my title “Building Tech with Generative AI • Non-Profit Board President • DE&I Advocate”, you probably noticed that many of my interests have been in the news lately – being criticized for outsized hype, maligned due to perceived harms or simply disliked by certain groups. All of the swirl has me thinking about how we talk about big complicated concepts as a society and where I personally choose to put my energy and effort. It’s a bit silly, but I just want to make sure it’s clear where I stand.
If we’ve spoken recently, it’s likely that, at some point in that convo, I went on a tangent about AI. For better or worse, I firmly believe that the genie is already out of the bottle and we are racing towards a future where AI will be integrated into almost every aspect of our lives. Due to this belief, I’m committed to developing responsible AI tools that amplify, not replace, human creativity. I’m proud that Adobe is a leader with programs like the Content Authenticity Initiative that help artists maintain ownership of their work, that we only train our models on images we own the rights to, and we routinely put creatives first as we develop new digital art tools. No corporation is perfect, but I’m glad that Adobe is on the right side of issues more often than not.
Outside of work, much of my free time these days is spent supporting Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education as Board President. I’m so proud of the work that the organization does to bring art into schools for low-income students. CAPE’s research proves that bringing art into curriculums results in better educational outcomes and helped turn school’s focus on STEM into the more effective STEAM framework. With the current admin looking to haphazardly gut beneficial governmental essential agencies like the Department of Education in the name of “efficiency,” I remain committed to our mission and hope that you will join me in supporting them. Feel free to donate at https://lnkd.in/dRVfTk5p
Lastly, it’s disheartening to see that the concept of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion get unfairly transformed into a bogeyman, much like woke, to score political points. It is a genuine shame that organizations are backing off from supporting and celebrating diversity in their ranks (Shout out to Costco for standing on business). It’s been shown that diversity benefits both organizations in aggregate and individuals through numerous studies. The facts are clear: developing tools and processes that support DEI ensures that true merit-based hiring can occur. Otherwise, nepotism and cronyism easily seep into hiring practices, lowering team effectiveness and reinforcing existing societal inequities. I’ll always advocate for inclusive team building and equitable practices, not just because studies consistently show diverse teams perform better, but because creating opportunities for all voices to contribute makes our work more impactful, meaningful, and is simply the right thing to do.
