08-25-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

13 ways leaders align AI use with values

How organizations are pairing innovation with judgment, trust, and guardrails.

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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

BY Fast Company Impact Council

When it comes to aligning artificial intelligence with values, AI is the genie out of the bottle. For a refresher, the three wishes story is a cautionary tale. Ask for virtuous things and open a whole new amazing world. In the case of AI, wish for the wrong thing and it’s time to ask Alexa to page Sarah Connor (bonus points knowing the Terminator 2 reference without asking Claude).

Aligning AI use with values takes more than wishful thinking. It takes thinking through what is asked of AI and how it’s used. We asked members of the Fast Company Impact Council how they align AI with their values. Read what 13 of them shared on how to keep AI firmly in the good wishes camp.

1. KEEP VALUES IN CODE

We keep our values in code, not in prompts. The things we value most (what gets blocked and what requires human sign-off) run as a deterministic check that executes identically every time. A person approves anything irreversible. If your artificial intelligence alignment strategy is a well-worded instruction, you don’t have a strategy, you have a suggestion — Usman Khan, ADP

2. START WITH PURPOSE QUESTIONS

We start with purpose, not technology. Every artificial intelligence decision is measured against a simple question: Does it expand human potential, strengthen trust, and create healthier communities? We have governance, human oversight, and clear ethical guardrails, but our greatest safeguard is remembering that AI should augment and not replace human judgment, empathy, and accountability. Innovation only creates lasting value when it advances both performance and people. — Jean Accius, CHC: Creating Healthier........

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