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Strategic Update
A message from Center for Humane Technology's Board
Other Information
The CHT Board has decided to refocus CHT where it believes it can contribute most: founder-led public communication and decision-maker influence. These strengths helped reshape the social media landscape and now position CHT to do the same with AI.
As part of this refocusing, CHT will wind down its in-house policy, litigation, research, and other programs, reducing staff in those areas. CHT has pursued two valuable approaches:
* founder-led public communication and decision-maker influence, and
* team-led institutional change through research, policy, and legal accountability.
But as AI accelerates, sustaining a nimble communications operation alongside a full programmatic institute within a small organization has created persistent tradeoffs in priorities, messaging, pace, situational analysis, and leadership attention.
StratML relationship: StratML (ISO 17469-1) enables organizations to publish their goals, objectives, stakeholders, and performance indicators in an open, standard, machine-readable format. Rendering this update in StratML makes CHT's refocused strategy readily discoverable, comparable with the plans of other organizations working on AI and humane technology, and trackable over time — so supporters and critics alike can assess the pivot on the basis of stated objectives and results.
Inasmuch as CHT's mission is to ensure that technologies serve humanity, StratML itself is an example of such technology: it enables humans to express their intentions in a form that machines, including AI agents, can read, act upon, and be held accountable to.
Values Note: The update does not explicitly state CHT's values. The values included in this rendition have been inferred from the language of the Board's message.
Submitter's Note: This StratML rendition has been compiled from the source by Claude.ai and lightly edited in the form at https://stratml.us/forms/Claude/Part2.html
🏢Center for Humane Technology CHT
Stakeholders:
👥 👤 👤 👤 👤 👥 👥 | Source & SubmitterSource:https://www.humanetech.com/strategic_update_100126 Period: to Published: |
Vision
Humanity is well-served
Mission
To ensure that today's most consequential technologies serve humanity
Values
Goal 1: Focus 🔗
Concentrate CHT's talent, funding, and leadership attention on founder-led public communication and decision-maker influence
Stakeholders:
👤Tristan Harris Co-Founder & Spokesperson : Leads public communication and decision-maker engagement (Performer)
👤Aza Raskin Co-Founder & Spokesperson : Leads public communication and decision-maker engagement (Performer)
Other Information
Founder-Led Focus ~ The Board believes the combination of public reach, cross-partisan engagement, and relationships with senior decision-makers represents CHT's most distinctive opportunity for impact. Concentrating talent, funding, and leadership attention around these strengths will allow CHT to respond more quickly and invest more boldly. StratML relationship: A focused strategy is easier to evaluate when its objectives are explicitly stated and associated with performance indicators. StratML provides the structure for doing so, enabling CHT to document the outcomes it seeks, not merely its outputs, and to report progress in a form that its stakeholders can readily query and compare.
Objective 1.1: AI 🔗
Shape public understanding of AI and the choices ahead through films, podcasts, talks, and national media
Stakeholders:
👥Public : Broad audiences across the political spectrumAudience : Gains understanding of AI and the choices ahead (Beneficiary)
Other Information
Public Education ~ CHT has played a critical role in documentaries including The Social Dilemma, which reached an estimated 100 million people, and The AI Doc, which reached No. 8 on Netflix's U.S. movie chart. Its podcast has over 31 million downloads, while agenda-setting talks include The AI Dilemma, with 3.6 million views, and Tristan's TED talk on AI. Tristan's recent national media appearances have reached over 40 million people. StratML relationship: Public understanding of AI and "the choices ahead" can be advanced by making the choices themselves explicit — i.e., the goals and objectives that AI developers, governments, and advocacy organizations say they are pursuing. When those plans are published in StratML, members of the public, journalists, and AI assistants can find, compare, and cite them accurately rather than relying on characterizations. Reach figures like those cited above can be documented as performance indicators, with targets and actual results, alongside outcome indicators reflecting changes in understanding and behavior.
Performance Indicators
1.1.1: Documentary Reach
| Type | Start Date | End Date | People | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | 100,000,000 | The Social Dilemma reached an estimated 100 million people |
1.1.2: Documentary Ranking
| Type | Start Date | End Date | Rank on Netflix U.S. movie chart | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | 8 | The AI Doc reached No. 8 on Netflix's U.S. movie chart |
1.1.3: Podcast Downloads
| Type | Start Date | End Date | Downloads | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | 31,000,000 | Your Undivided Attention podcast has over 31 million downloads |
1.1.4: Talk Views
| Type | Start Date | End Date | Views | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | 3,600,000 | The AI Dilemma talk has 3.6 million views |
1.1.5: National Media Reach
| Type | Start Date | End Date | People | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | 40,000,000 | Tristan's recent national media appearances reached over 40 million people |
1.1.6: Public Understanding of AI
| Type | Start Date | End Date | Change in Understanding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Not specified in the source; to be defined by CHT |
Other Information
This outcome indicator has been added by the submitter to complement the output indicators above. The source does not specify how changes in public understanding will be measured.
Objective 1.2: Briefings 🔗
Work directly with influential decision-makers through targeted briefings that deepen their understanding of AI and the responses needed to meet the scale of the challenge
Stakeholders:
👥Decision-Makers : Influential leaders in government and other sectorsBriefing Recipient : Deepens understanding of AI and the responses needed (Beneficiary)
Other Information
Targeted Briefings ~ This builds on Tristan and Aza's participation in the Senate's first AI Insight Forum, their meeting with Pope Leo ahead of his AI encyclical, and their recent in-depth discussion of AI with Bill Gates. StratML relationship: Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 directs U.S. federal agencies to publish their strategic and performance plans and reports in machine-readable format. Briefings can be made more actionable by referencing the specific goals and objectives decision-makers' own organizations have committed to and by identifying where the responses needed to address AI's risks fit — or are missing — in those plans. Proposed responses can also be documented in StratML as model plans that decision-makers can adopt, adapt, and report against. Opportunity: GSA's U.S. Strategy Data Fellowship (https://stratml.us/docs/USSDF.xml) aims to inventory agency strategic plans and transform them into AI-ready data (Goals 1 and 2). Briefings could draw upon that inventory to point decision-makers to their own agencies' objectives — and to where AI-related responses are absent from them.
Objective 1.3: Coordination 🔗
Bring leaders across technology, government, media, and philanthropy together behind the scenes to explore coordinated action and ways to change the incentives driving the AI race
Stakeholders:
👥Technology Leaders Coordination Participant : Explores coordinated action and ways to change the incentives driving the AI race (Performer, Beneficiary)
👥Government Leaders Coordination Participant : Explores coordinated action and ways to change the incentives driving the AI race (Performer, Beneficiary)
👥Media Leaders Coordination Participant : Explores coordinated action and ways to change the incentives driving the AI race (Performer, Beneficiary)
👥Philanthropic Leaders Coordination Participant : Explores coordinated action and ways to change the incentives driving the AI race (Performer, Beneficiary)
Other Information
Private Coordination ~ While much of this work cannot be shared publicly, it complements public education and briefings by creating opportunities for leaders to act together. StratML relationship: Coordinated action requires shared understanding of who is committed to doing what, by when, and how results will be measured. StratML's stakeholder roles and performance indicators provide a common structure for documenting such commitments. Even where deliberations remain private, the commitments that emerge from them can be published, thereby changing incentives by making performance transparent and enabling stakeholders to hold participants accountable. Opportunity: GSA's U.S. Strategy Data Fellowship (https://stratml.us/docs/USSDF.xml) aims to identify organizations pursuing similar objectives and to detect unmet needs (Objective 4.1, Opportunity Identification), complementing efforts to coordinate action and change incentives across sectors.
Goal 2: AI Ecosystem 🔗
Use CHT's reach to support and highlight promising work by other organizations across the AI ecosystem
Stakeholders:
👥Other Organizations : Organizations advancing research, policy, and legal accountability with respect to AIHighlighted Organization : Receives support and visibility from CHT (Beneficiary)
Other Information
Ecosystem Support ~ In areas CHT is stepping back, it intends to support and highlight other organizations advancing this work. StratML relationship: Identifying which organizations are pursuing which objectives is a prerequisite to highlighting and supporting their work effectively. The StratML collection at stratml.us, which includes thousands of plans, enables discovery of organizations with aligned goals and objectives. They can be queried at https://aboutthem.info/ Organizations taking up research, policy, and litigation work in this domain could publish their plans in StratML to make their objectives readily discoverable — by CHT, by funders, and by one another. Opportunity: GSA's U.S. Strategy Data Fellowship (https://stratml.us/docs/USSDF.xml) seeks to create an inventory of AI-ready public-sector strategy data and identifies nonprofit organizations as stakeholders contributing expertise, technology, and collaborative support (Objective 5.3, Community Development). Nonprofits taking up the research, policy, and litigation work from which CHT is stepping back could engage with the fellowship so that their AI-related objectives become discoverable alongside those of the government agencies they seek to influence.
Objective 2.1: Highlights 🔗
Rather than operating research, policy, and litigation programs in-house, highlight promising work by others across the AI ecosystem
Stakeholders:
🏢Center for Humane Technology Amplifier : Uses its reach to highlight promising work by others (Performer)
Other Information
StratML relationship: Naming the organizations whose work CHT highlights, and linking to their StratML plans, would make the handoff of the work CHT is stepping back from transparent and verifiable.
Goal 3: Transition 🔗
Wind down in-house programs while honoring commitments and supporting departing colleagues, partners, and funders
Stakeholders:
👥CHT Board of Directors : Takes responsibility for the transitionTransition Lead (Performer)
Other Information
Responsible Transition ~ CHT explored supporting an independent organization to carry the programmatic work forward, but it will not be launching. The Board recognizes that the decision to refocus CHT disrupts active commitments that staff built in good faith. StratML relationship: Transitions are where institutional knowledge and commitments are most at risk of being lost. Documenting in StratML the commitments being concluded, continued, or transferred — together with the responsible stakeholders and dates — preserves a durable, machine-readable record that can aid successor organizations in carrying the work forward.
Objective 3.1: Wind-Down 🔗
Step back from in-house research coordination, policy and litigation advisory work, evaluations of AI's psychosocial impacts, and the planned fellows program
Stakeholders:
👥Allies, Policymakers & Co-Litigants Affected Party : External parties with whom departing staff built trust and whose work is affected by the wind-down
Other Information
Program Wind-Down ~ Departing colleagues' achievements include AI product liability frameworks, the AI Roadmap, advice to policymakers and state attorneys general, expert support for litigation involving Character.AI and OpenAI, and coordination and development of evaluations of psychosocial impacts of AI. StratML relationship: Rendering in StratML the goals and objectives of the programs being wound down would preserve a record of their aims and accomplishments, enabling others to build upon them.
Objective 3.2: Commitments 🔗
Continue the AI and What Makes Us Human initiative, including the Stop AI Drift campaign, through the end of October
Stakeholders:
👥Partners Partner : Active commitments honored through the end of October (Beneficiary)
👥Departing Colleagues Initiative Staff : Complete the milestone phase before programmatic operations conclude (Performer)
Other Information
Commitment Completion ~ Staff will complete this milestone phase before fully concluding CHT's programmatic operations. StratML relationship: StratML's date and performance indicator elements enable such milestones to be documented with target and actual results, so partners can see what was achieved before the initiative concluded.
Performance Indicators
3.2.1: Milestone Completion
| Type | Start Date | End Date | Milestone Phase | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-31 | Complete the milestone phase of the AI and What Makes Us Human initiative, including the Stop AI Drift campaign |
Objective 3.3: Staff Support 🔗
Help departing staff communicate seamlessly with their networks, honor their work, and find new opportunities and homes for their work
Stakeholders:
👥Departing Colleagues Transitioning Staff : Receives direct and financial support in finding new opportunities and homes for their work (Beneficiary)
Other Information
The Board has also committed financial support for departing colleagues to help them successfully transition. StratML relationship: Plans documenting departing staff members' work in StratML can help them find new homes for that work by making its objectives discoverable by organizations with aligned goals. Opportunity: Departing staff with policy and research expertise may also find opportunities to contribute to GSA's U.S. Strategy Data Fellowship (https://stratml.us/docs/USSDF.xml), which identifies nonprofit organizations and academic institutions among the stakeholders contributing to public-sector strategy data.
Objective 3.4: Partner Coordination 🔗
Work directly with affected funders, partners, and collaborators on what the transition means for their projects and commitments, including next steps and points of contact
Stakeholders:
👥Funders, Partners & Collaborators Affected Collaborator : Receives guidance on next steps and points of contact for their projects and commitments (Beneficiary)
Other Information
StratML relationship: StratML's Stakeholder elements enable points of contact and their roles to be specified for each objective, thereby clarifying for funders, partners, and co-litigants who is responsible for what going forward.