The AI Strategy Lab for Social Justice Advocates: Critical analysis and grounded decision making for our collective future
🎉🎉NEW COHORT ADDED🎉🎉
Due to popular demand, we're creating a third (and final) cohort to begin on Aug 6th. Please register here.
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Cohort 1
Workshop Dates: Every Thursday Starting June 4
Class 1: June 4th 10am–12pm PT (1–3pm ET)
Class 2: June 11th 10am–12pm PT (1–3pm ET)
Class 3: June 18th 10am–12pm PT (1–3pm ET)
Class 4: June 25th 10am–12pm PT (1–3pm ET)
A 4-part live learning series for justice-oriented leaders, advocates, organizers, educators, funders, nonprofit professionals, HR/DEI practitioners, policymakers, and change makers who want to understand AI with more clarity, rigor, and courage.
What is AI literacy in the context of social justice?
No matter which way you turn, everyone seems to be talking about AI.
You may be hearing big claims about its limitless potential. You may be reading sharp critiques about AI corporate powers, algorithmic bias, and environmental harm. You may see your peers suddenly become an overnight AI expert and feel anxious that you might be falling behind. You may be wondering what your role is in all of this, and feel the pressure to figure it all out as quickly as the world seems to demand it.
Regardless of where you stand, one thing is clear: the impact of AI is already being felt by many, and it's spreading rapidly.
AI Strategy Lab for Social Justice Advocates is a live, online learning series designed for change agents who want to understand AI with more groundedness, clarity, and rigor. We are here to slow down the panic and give you a clear place to process the complexity. Across four live sessions, we will move beyond hype, panic, and abstract concern to building a solid foundation for understanding what AI is, how it works, and how to make sense of the range of opportunities and harms that exist. We will examine concrete case studies, practice making complex decisions around AI usage, intervention, and accountability, and restore agency by creating practical options beyond all-or-nothing. You will leave with better questions, immediately useful tools, and more confidence to participate in shaping our future.
AI systems are already being embedded into schools, workplaces, media, and everyday decision-making at a speed and scale we simply cannot ignore.
This series is an invitation to locate yourself in the struggle.
Your expertise already matters. This course will help you understand where and how to use it.
For more information, visit thecouragestudio.com
* SERIES OVERVIEW *
CLASS 1. AI Fundamentals: Current technical and ethical landscape
We'll begin by demystifying AI and contextualizing the moment: what it is, what it is not, how it works, and why it matters now. We'll examine the dominant narratives surrounding AI and clarify how a social justice lens can be applied to the AI lifecycle.
Practice tool: AI Supply Chain & Power Analysis
CLASS 2. The Dual Edge of AI: When opportunity meets systemic harm
AI is often framed as either breakthrough or threat. The reality is more complicated. This session explores how AI can create real possibilities while also reproducing and amplifying existing inequities. We'll examine three categories of harm and practice distinguishing between fixable errors and structural harm.
Practice tool: AI Harm Diagnosis Framework
CLASS 3. Grounded Decision Making: Choices beyond all or nothing
Once we understand the risks, what do we do? This session strengthens our sense of agency by introducing a broader decision menu. We will work through real-world scenarios and practice asking sharper questions about purpose, accountability, foreseeable harm, human oversight, and values-based tradeoffs.
Practice tool: AI Decision Matrix
CLASS 4. Collective Courage: Building sustainable conditions
In the final session, we'll look toward the future of AI, work, power, and social change. We'll explore the skills and capacities justice leaders need in this moment: critical thinking, ethical governance, principled conflict, change management, and more. We'll close by returning to collective courage—how we confront what is true, name what matters, act with discernment, and sustain ourselves and each other through ongoing change.
Practice tool: Collective Courage Framework + Action Plan
Seats are limited.