Shaping the future of AI, together.
The Noēsis Collaborative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to steering the development and use of AI technology toward positive outcomes for individuals and society. We are composed of three complementary parts:
➺ The Noēsis Institute provides actionable wisdom about human flourishing to AI builders.
➺ The Noēsis Forum empowers communities and individuals to make informed and conscious decisions – as both consumers and citizens.
➺ The Noēsis Lab works with technologists, researchers, and civil society to co-create tools, standards, and metrics that align AI development with human flourishing.
Destination: Human Flourishing
Technology is an engine of human progress. But, engines don’t drive themselves. Humanity is at the wheel. Our collective navigation determines the direction of travel. One way or another, we answer the definitive question: Where do we go from here?
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the most powerful technology that we’ve ever created. The AI engine has the power to change every aspect of human life: social relationships, health, education, work, politics, culture, and the natural environment. As we approach the precipice of the AI Age, we are all at the wheel and we all need to choose our destination.
If we remain passive, a few powerful forces will direct the AI engine toward private profit, geopolitical advantage, and macroeconomic growth. The collective wisdom of human history shows us that pursuing these priorities as our ultimate destinations often leads us away from individual flourishing and the common good.
Noēsis Collaborative was founded with a different destination in mind: human flourishing.
Our three complementary functions
Timeless Wisdom. Timely Solutions.
Wisdom for builders.
Noētechnos is a term for any person who builds timely innovations (technē) guided by timeless wisdom (noēsis). We believe every AI technologist is a noētechnos, or has the potential to become one.
The Noēsis Institute partners with the world’s leading scholars, philosophers, psychologists, and educators to provide noētechnoi with the actionable wisdom required to develop technology that cultivates human flourishing (eudaimonia) in every dimension: agency, purpose, meaning, close relationships, virtue, happiness, and health.
Insight for communities.
Everyone who will be impacted by AI should have a role in shaping it. Market capitalism and democratic government provide mechanisms for this. But, in the real world, every individual choice and behavior is not always as conscious as we’d like.
Unfortunately, profit-seekers and self-interested politicians have learned how to manipulate some of our least helpful human tendencies – as both consumers and citizens. Algorithms will mainline spiritual junk food into our lizard brains, as long as we keep clicking. Elected officials will neglect our interests, as long as we allow it.
The Noēsis Forum sparks authentic conversations—online and in person—where communities discern together, choose technologies wisely, and shape technology for human flourishing.
Tools for technologists.
Every noētechnos faces a hard journey. No amount of book learning will shield them from the slings and arrows of powerful forces. KPIs will incentivize engagement over enrichment. Self-interested investors and mentors with misaligned expectations will preach profit and neglect deeper insights. Customers will engage with products that have harmful consequences. Work environments will fracture their attention and ability to think deeply.
Noēsis Labs works with technologists, researchers, and civil society to co-create tools, standards, metrics and KPIs that align technology development with human flourishing. It will also provide new models of investment, governance and access to new funding streams.
Noēsis Programs
A collaborative blueprint for human flourishing
Noēsis Collaborative works with like-minded philanthropic donors to align AI technology with human flourishing. Our programs combine the work of our Institute, Forum, and Labs to bridge disciplines, recover timeless wisdom, and build practical solutions that ensure AI technology serves the soul of human civilization.
Our first program, HumanConnections.AI, is bringing together product developers, researchers, and investors to address a thorny question: “How might we design AI systems to support close social relationships and human flourishing?”
Our Team
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Ron Ivey
Founder and CEO / LinkedIn
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David Price
Founding Board Chair / LinkedIn
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Tim Shirk
Founding Board Member / LinkedIn
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Jennifer Tacheff
Senior Advisor, Innovation and Ecosystem Strategy / LinkedIn
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Mike Moffo
Senior Advisor, Creative Strategy / LinkedIn
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Katie McNerney
Senior Advisor, Strategy and Operations / LinkedIn
Notable news and ideas
Noēsis at work.
AI Roundtable Discussion at the House of Lords
Our team recently joined Lord Russell Rook at the House of Lords within the British Parliament for a gathering of interfaith and technology leaders around the theme of AI, Human Values, and UK Opportunities. The cross-sector exchange, co-hosted by HumanConnections.AI and the AI Faith and Civil Society Commission, was rooted in curiosity, depth, and the human dimensions of AI. The dinner conversation explored a future initiative to help faith communities and civil society organizations wisely navigate the future of AI.
Designing AI to Help Kids Flourish
Founder, Ron Ivey recently spoke on AI and human flourishing at the Global Solutions Initiative Summit, an advisory body to the G20. He presented a policy brief, co-authored with Jonathan Teubner, Nathanael Fast, and Ravi Iyer, that combined research from Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program with the "design code" expertise of the USC Marshall School of Business Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making. Join the LinkedIn conversation.
Social AI White Paper
Our HumanConnections.AI program recently published a white paper called: Social AI and Human Connections: Benefits, Risks and Social Impact. Drawing on a review of recent literature, expert interviews, a Salon with leading technologists and scholars of human flourishing, and webinars with Social AI researchers, the paper explores the question: How might we design AI systems for social connectedness and human flourishing?
Rome Conference on AI, Ethics, and the Future of Corporate Governance
On June 19-20, our Founder, Ron Ivey attended the Second Annual Rome Conference on AI, Ethics, and the Future of Corporate Governance at the Aposolitic Palace. Pope Leo XIV addressed this message to all participants of the event, which was covered by the Wall Street Journal and CNN, among others.
