Stay Human—Get Certified

Take a Course with Helen & Dave, Co-Founders, Artificiality Institute
Two Days. In person. With Humans.
Seattle | San Francisco | Miami | New York | and next…?
Take a Course with Helen & Dave, Co-Founders, Artificiality Institute
Two Days. In person. With Humans.
Seattle | San Francisco | Miami | New York | and next…?

Everyone working with AI is choosing, mostly without noticing, between cognitive sovereignty and cognitive surrender. The skill that decides which way you go is human authorship — noticing what AI is doing to your thinking, choosing where it should go, showing up to own the result. 

Newly urgent, and learnable. It is what these two days teach. You work on your own real cases throughout, and you certify by demonstration, in front of your cohort. Grounded in the Institute's research on how AI is changing human minds and work, and in a decade of teaching senior leaders to make better decisions.

What you leave with

People who finish this use AI more deeply than most people you know — and are more themselves for it.

  • Read any job, including your own, for what the machine competes with and what it complements.

  • See where you and the people around you are adapting — and talk about it in a way others can hear.

  • Decide better with AI than you did before it arrived, and stand behind the result.

  • Lead through the transition: meeting people where they are, giving AI its roles deliberately, and growing the work only humans can do — starting with your own.

Who it's for

People whose work is judgment: leaders, senior individual contributors, and anyone setting how a team works with AI. No technical background assumed. You should be using AI often enough to have habits worth examining.

Everyone working with AI is choosing, mostly without noticing, between cognitive sovereignty and cognitive surrender. The skill that decides which way you go is human authorship — noticing what AI is doing to your thinking, choosing where it should go, showing up to own the result. 

Newly urgent, and learnable. It is what these two days teach. You work on your own real cases throughout, and you certify by demonstration, in front of your cohort. Grounded in the Institute's research on how AI is changing human minds and work, and in a decade of teaching senior leaders to make better decisions.

What you leave with

People who finish this use AI more deeply than most people you know — and are more themselves for it.

  • Read any job, including your own, for what the machine competes with and what it complements.

  • See where you and the people around you are adapting — and talk about it in a way others can hear.

  • Decide better with AI than you did before it arrived, and stand behind the result.

  • Lead through the transition: meeting people where they are, giving AI its roles deliberately, and growing the work only humans can do — starting with your own.

Who it's for

People whose work is judgment: leaders, senior individual contributors, and anyone setting how a team works with AI. No technical background assumed. You should be using AI often enough to have habits worth examining.

A discussion session at the Artificiality Summit

The Program

DAY ONE: AWARENESS

The structure of your work

Profile your own work on the five dimensions AI cannot absorb—being there, making hard decisions, combining fields, solving the new, taste. Know what to hand to AI, what to double down on, and where your work can grow.

How we adapt

Read your own AI history through the three patterns of adaptation—blending, bonding, bending. Locate yourself, and learn to recognize where the people you work with and lead are.

Judgment in the presence of the machine

Live exercises in the decision science behind Stay Human: your confidence, your certainty, and your understanding, each moved by the machine in real time—and you learn to notice it happening.


DAY TWO: AGENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The roles, and choosing: Doer to Co-Author

Name the role AI holds in each part of your work—chosen or drifted into—and choose deliberately, with Co-Author as the fullest form: AI deep in the work, you unmistakably the source.

Deciding with AI

Run a real decision with AI as the complement: calibrate your confidence, choose the error you can live with, own the synthesis. Make better decisions with AI than you made before.

Growing with AI

Turn your profile into a development plan: enter fields you never trained in, take on larger decisions, cultivate taste—with AI as the instrument of the growth. Learn how to deploy different AI modes—from vibe coding to delegated agents—to reach further.

Authorship together

Extend the practice to people working with people and machines: keep authorship visible across a team, read adaptation in others, and lead their growth.

The demonstration

Defend your decision in front of your cohort and present your growth plan. Certified in person.

DAY ONE: AWARENESS

The structure of your work

Profile your own work on the five dimensions AI cannot absorb—being there, making hard decisions, combining fields, solving the new, taste. Know what to hand to AI, what to double down on, and where your work can grow.

How we adapt

Read your own AI history through the three patterns of adaptation—blending, bonding, bending. Locate yourself, and learn to recognize where the people you work with and lead are.

Judgment in the presence of the machine

Live exercises in the decision science behind Stay Human: your confidence, your certainty, and your understanding, each moved by the machine in real time—and you learn to notice it happening.


DAY TWO: AGENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The roles, and choosing: Doer to Co-Author

Name the role AI holds in each part of your work—chosen or drifted into—and choose deliberately, with Co-Author as the fullest form: AI deep in the work, you unmistakably the source.

Deciding with AI

Run a real decision with AI as the complement: calibrate your confidence, choose the error you can live with, own the synthesis. Make better decisions with AI than you made before.

Growing with AI

Turn your profile into a development plan: enter fields you never trained in, take on larger decisions, cultivate taste—with AI as the instrument of the growth. Learn how to deploy different AI modes—from vibe coding to delegated agents—to reach further.

Authorship together

Extend the practice to people working with people and machines: keep authorship visible across a team, read adaptation in others, and lead their growth.

The demonstration

Defend your decision in front of your cohort and present your growth plan. Certified in person.

A woman talking into a microphone at the Artificiality Summit

In the Room

How we work: Small cohorts, no audience. Everyone contributes; nobody spectates. You spend both days on your own real work, and you are questioned on it closely—by people who don't know your context and therefore ask what your colleagues have stopped asking. That is the value, and it is also the part people are most nervous about. It is built to be rigorous, not adversarial.

What stays in the room: Everything. Nothing shared in the cohort is repeated outside it, by us or by anyone present, and nothing you bring is recorded or retained. You choose what to bring: the decision needs to be real and consequential to you, not necessarily confidential.

Who else is in the room: People from these organizations have taken part in Institute gatherings and courses: Allianz, Amazon, Bast AI, Berggruen Institute, Brown University, Capgemini, Columbia University, Cisco, DXM, E.ON, EY, Fundação Dom Cabral, Galp, Google, Harvard University, IBM, IDEO, Inflection, John Cabot University, Latimer.ai, Leadership Greater Washington, M13, Microsoft, National Head Start Association, Netflix, Oregon State University, Parsons School of Design, PLS, Portland State University, R/GA, Salesforce, Santander, SAP, Slalom, Stanford University, Starbucks, SurveyMonkey, The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Transpower NZ, Tufts University, University of California, University College London, University of Portland, University of Washington, VSCO, Webjet, Workday Foundation, and Yale University.

What to bring A laptop and the AI tools you already use.

Can I attend without certifying? Yes. Certification is included but optional.

How we work: Small cohorts, no audience. Everyone contributes; nobody spectates. You spend both days on your own real work, and you are questioned on it closely—by people who don't know your context and therefore ask what your colleagues have stopped asking. That is the value, and it is also the part people are most nervous about. It is built to be rigorous, not adversarial.

What stays in the room: Everything. Nothing shared in the cohort is repeated outside it, by us or by anyone present, and nothing you bring is recorded or retained. You choose what to bring: the decision needs to be real and consequential to you, not necessarily confidential.

Who else is in the room: People from these organizations have taken part in Institute gatherings and courses: Allianz, Amazon, Bast AI, Berggruen Institute, Brown University, Capgemini, Columbia University, Cisco, DXM, E.ON, EY, Fundação Dom Cabral, Galp, Google, Harvard University, IBM, IDEO, Inflection, John Cabot University, Latimer.ai, Leadership Greater Washington, M13, Microsoft, National Head Start Association, Netflix, Oregon State University, Parsons School of Design, PLS, Portland State University, R/GA, Salesforce, Santander, SAP, Slalom, Stanford University, Starbucks, SurveyMonkey, The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Transpower NZ, Tufts University, University of California, University College London, University of Portland, University of Washington, VSCO, Webjet, Workday Foundation, and Yale University.

What to bring A laptop and the AI tools you already use.

Can I attend without certifying? Yes. Certification is included but optional.

The crowd listening to a talk at the Artificiality Summit 2024

Course Passes

We're launching the Stay Human Certified course in four cities in 2026.

Founding Cohort rate below; the standard rate of $2,500 (one pass) and $4,400 (two passes) applies from 2027.

Seattle

November 4-5, 2026

One Pass:

$1,950

Two Passes:

$3,500

San Francisco

November 11-12, 2026

One Pass:

$1,950

Two Passes:

$3,500

Miami

December 1-2, 2026

One Pass:

$1,950

Two Passes:

$3,500

New York

December 8-9, 2026

One Pass:

$1,950

Two Passes:

$3,500

Two Passes brings a colleague. Day two extends the practice to teams—keeping authorship visible across people working with people and machines—and pairs from the same organization get considerably more out of it than either would alone.

Email hello@artificialityinstitute.org for our 30% education and non-profit discounts, for larger groups, or to schedule a private cohort for your organization.

Want us to hold a course closer to you? Email us with your location and we'll see what we can do.

Two Passes brings a colleague. Day two extends the practice to teams—keeping authorship visible across people working with people and machines—and pairs from the same organization get considerably more out of it than either would alone.

Email hello@artificialityinstitute.org for our 30% education and non-profit discounts, for larger groups, or to schedule a private cohort for your organization.

Want us to hold a course closer to you? Email us with your location and we'll see what we can do.

Helen Edwards delivering a keynote at the Artificiality Summit

Your Instructors:
Helen & Dave Edwards

The Artificiality Institute Co-Founders
Helen Edwards

Helen Edwards

Founder

Dave Edwards

Dave Edwards

Founder

We come at this from different directions. Helen spent her career leading large-scale technology transformations—as CIO of New Zealand's national grid, in executive roles at PG&E and Fonterra, navigating what happens when complex systems meet human needs. Dave shaped creative software at Apple and invested in emerging technologies as a venture capitalist at CRV and analyst at Morgan Stanley.

What we share: a conviction that the most important questions about AI aren't technical. They're human.

We've been studying the human experience of AI for over a decade—first through Intelligentsia.ai, the research firm we founded (later acquired by Atlantic Media), now through the Artificiality Institute and as Visiting Researchers at UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI. Helen also serves as a Commissioner on Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

But titles don't capture why we do this. We started because our kids asked a question we couldn't answer. We kept going because we realized almost no one was asking it.

We come at this from different directions. Helen spent her career leading large-scale technology transformations—as CIO of New Zealand's national grid, in executive roles at PG&E and Fonterra, navigating what happens when complex systems meet human needs. Dave shaped creative software at Apple and invested in emerging technologies as a venture capitalist at CRV and analyst at Morgan Stanley.

What we share: a conviction that the most important questions about AI aren't technical. They're human.

We've been studying the human experience of AI for over a decade—first through Intelligentsia.ai, the research firm we founded (later acquired by Atlantic Media), now through the Artificiality Institute and as Visiting Researchers at UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI. Helen also serves as a Commissioner on Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

But titles don't capture why we do this. We started because our kids asked a question we couldn't answer. We kept going because we realized almost no one was asking it.

Helen Edwards delivering a keynote at the Artificiality Summit

Feedback from Previous Courses

“You have a unique ability to describe what it means to be human in the age of AI.”

— Head of Marketing, Global finance company

“You are masters in translating complex issues into compelling, relatable stories.”

— Head of L&D, Global retail company

“Helen and Dave’s ability to make AI simple and accessible is outstanding.”

— Chief People Officer, E-commerce company

“You reassured me that a beautiful future is possible with AI.”

— Head of Operations, Manufacturing company

“You have a unique ability to describe what it means to be human in the age of AI.”

— Head of Marketing, Global finance company

“You are masters in translating complex issues into compelling, relatable stories.”

— Head of L&D, Global retail company

“Helen and Dave’s ability to make AI simple and accessible is outstanding.”

— Chief People Officer, E-commerce company

“You reassured me that a beautiful future is possible with AI.”

— Head of Operations, Manufacturing company

A woman talking into a microphone at the Artificiality Summit

Details

Hours: 9am–5pm both days, with a working lunch. The demonstration takes place on the afternoon of day two.

Cohort size: Limited to 25 participants. The demonstration format depends on a room small enough that everyone is known by the end of day one.

Venues: To be set closer to the course date.

What's included

  • Two full days of programming

  • Lunch both days, with dietary options arranged in advance

  • Your work profile and development plan, yours to keep

  • Companion book: Stay Human

  • Certification against the published Stay Human standard


The crowd listening to a talk at the Artificiality Summit 2024

Certification

What does certifying by demonstration involve? On the afternoon of day two you defend a real decision in front of your cohort and present your growth plan, assessed against the Stay Human Standard—a published document setting out what a certified practitioner can demonstrably do, the evidence required, and how it is judged.

What if I don't meet the standard? Everyone who attends completes the course. Certification is assessed separately and communicated privately within one week—no one is failed in front of the room. If you don't meet the standard, you may resubmit once at no cost within 90 days, live over video, with feedback on exactly what to strengthen.

Does the certification expire? Your certification is dated—Stay Human Certified, 2026 — and does not expire. We may introduce a renewal path as the practice develops; founding cohort members will be first to hear.

How can an employer verify it? You receive a verifiable digital badge, issued to the Open Badges standard. It carries a unique ID, the date of issue, and a link to the standard it was assessed against—so anyone can see not just that you're certified, but what you had to demonstrate. One click adds it to your LinkedIn profile.

Do I need a technical background? No. You need to be using AI often enough to have habits worth examining, and to bring real work you can think about openly in a small room.

Can we run this privately for our team? Yes. We run private cohorts for organizations. Email hello@artificialityinstitute.org.

The crowd listening to a talk at the Artificiality Summit 2024

Registration, transfers, and refunds

We want you to register with confidence. Cohorts are deliberately small and capacity-limited, and our commitments to venues and catering are made well in advance. The policy below is built to give you real flexibility while reflecting those commitments—and to make sure that, even if your plans change, your investment is never simply lost.

All timeframes below are measured from the first day of the cohort you registered for.

Move to another city or date—any time: Because we run cohorts in four cities, the simplest answer to a change of plans is usually a different date. You may move to any other scheduled cohort with space available, at no cost, up to 48 hours before your cohort begins. Your full ticket value moves with you.

Transfer to a colleague—any time: You may transfer your seat to a colleague or peer at no cost, up to 48 hours before your cohort begins. We set that short cutoff only so we can prepare materials for your replacement.

Refunds

  • 60 or more days before your cohort: 80% refund.

  • 30–59 days before: 50% refund.

  • Within 30 days: non-refundable, as our final venue and catering guarantees lock in at this point.

  • Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method within 14 business days of your request.

Rollover credit—for last-minute changes: If you need to cancel inside the non-refundable window and can't move to another cohort or transfer to a colleague, you may instead roll over 100% of your ticket value as a credit toward any cohort in the following 12 months. Credits are based on the amount you paid; if the price has risen, you're welcome to apply your credit and pay the difference.

If we cancel or reschedule If we cancel your cohort, you'll receive a full refund of your ticket price. If we reschedule, your seat will be honored for the new dates; if you're unable to attend them, you may transfer or roll over as described above. Please note we're unable to reimburse travel, lodging, or other personal costs, so we recommend refundable travel arrangements or travel insurance.

How to request: To request a refund, transfer, or rollover, contact us at hello@artificialityinstitute.org. We're happy to help.

Jonathan Coulton performing at the Artficiality Summit