Unlocking Efficiency and Multiplying Capacity with Responsible AI
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Dr. Michelle paul helps shift staff perceptions about ai from “robot overlord” to capacity multiplier
The Mayberg Foundation’s "Exploring AI" professional development workshop, facilitated by certified consultant Dr. Michelle Paul, helped foundation and operating partner staff rethink their use of artificial intelligence. Dr. Paul explained that AI isn’t a "robot overlord"; instead, it’s a powerful "super-smart intern" that boosts our capacity, amplifying our expertise and handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks. This shift in perspective focused heavily on using these tools responsibly. We explored crucial topics like legal compliance, tackling misinformation ("AI is a confident liar!"), protecting privacy, and recognizing inherent biases in data, ensuring we can confidently address security and accuracy concerns head-on.
The session quickly moved into hands-on strategies for getting better results. Dr. Paul shared her 5-Part Prompt Framework to help everyone structure clearer, more effective requests, along with a practical example to illustrate its usage:
The 5-Part Prompt Framework
1. Pre-Existing Conditions
I am traveling to Rome, Italy. Traveling with 2 kids and elderly parents.
2. Role
You are an expert travel advisor, plugged into the latest trends and coolest places.
3. Explicit Instructions
Make a 2-day travel itinerary including restaurants, museums, and tourist attractions.
4. Parameters
Do not give me only touristy stuff. I want off the path, hidden gems. Do not include lodging as I already have that booked.
5. Ask
Before you start the task, ask me up to 3 questions with information you need to make this trip itinerary.
The team was encouraged to engage with AI dynamically—using it Socratically to challenge our thinking, uncover blind spots, and critique outlines. A key takeaway was the need to demand that AI cite its knowledge sources and for us, the users, to critique those sources rigorously. To keep the momentum going, Dr. Paul suggested building an internal library or "marketplace" of our best prompts. Mayberg Foundation Trustee Louis Mayberg shared a real-world example of a colleague who used AI to condense stock market data analysis, shortening the task from a weeks-long project into just a few hours of work, perfectly illustrating how this technology truly acts as a capacity multiplier.
We wrapped up with some actionable challenges that are already helping us integrate AI into our daily routines. Dr. Paul invited us to dream a little, asking us how we plan to reinvest all that time we’ll save, encouraging everyone to start a "wishlist" of high-impact projects. Mayberg Foundation Executive Director Todd Sukol challenged every staff member to bring a specific work challenge to an upcoming staff meeting with all the relevant context and background information. Together, the team will work on crafting the perfect prompts that address those issues and move our projects forward efficiently and setting the stage for greater integration of this technology in our daily work.