AI: A Friend or Foe of Diversity Practitioners?
AI is increasingly shaping how organisations design policies, make decisions and communicate with their people. AI can both reinforce inequities or promote equity and support inclusion. DEI practitioners have an opportunity to use AI critically, weighing risks like bias and lack of transparency against benefits such as increased efficiencies and stronger insights.
This practical and thought‑provoking session is designed specifically for DEI practitioners who want to engage with AI critically, confidently, and responsibly. Rather than positioning AI as inherently good or bad, the workshop explores its dual role and the real-world implications for DEI work.
In this session, we will explore:
AI’s dual role in DEI - Understand how AI can both reinforce existing inequities and create opportunities to promote equity. We will unpack where risks show up and where AI can meaningfully support DEI practice when used with intention and care.
Understanding and identifying bias - Learn how bias can enter AI systems through historical data, human assumptions and organisational blind spots. We will focus on how to recognise these patterns and stay alert to bias in AI-generated outputs.
Practical evaluation skills - Build confidence in assessing AI outputs through hands-on methods for spotting stereotypes, identifying missing perspectives, and anticipating potential harms particularly in sensitive DEI contexts.
Reducing administrative workload - Explore practical ways AI can support routine DEI tasks such as drafting communications, creating templates, and organising information, allowing practitioners to spend more time on strategy, relationships and change.
Mitigation and ethical practices - Walk through practical strategies for responsible AI use, including prompting to surface assumptions, triangulating outputs, adding human context, keeping humans firmly in the loop, and documenting AI use for transparency.
Takeaway toolkit - Participants will leave with a set of ready-to-use prompts to help check for bias, uncover blind spots, improve quality, and reduce workload, enabling immediate application in their DEI work.
Why attend?Develop a clearer, more critical understanding of AI in a DEI context
Build practical skills to evaluate and improve AI-generated content
Learn how to safely reduce administrative burden without outsourcing judgment
Walk away with tools you can use immediately in your day-to-day DEI work
This session is designed to be practical, accessible and grounded in the realities of DEI practice. It will be interactive, with opportunities to test ideas and reflect, while maintaining a supportive learning environment.