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Come hear from Governor Maura Healey as she addresses Chamber members as the 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth.
02/24/2026
9:45am - 11:00am
The Westin Boston Seaport
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On a brisk morning this January 5th, I stood inside the Boston Symphony Hall for Mayor Michelle Wu’s second inauguration. As she spoke of building a Boston that is “connected, compassionate, and prepared for the future,” I found myself reflecting on which of those fronts needs the most immediate attention: the ethical foundation for our digital future.
Artificial intelligence isn’t coming to reshape our economy and our city. It’s already here. And right now, we’re deploying it faster than we’re understanding it.
Boston has always been a city of firsts — the telephone, the first public school, the T, the first successful organ transplant. But this moment feels different. The speed is different. The stakes are different. And whether we lead or follow will be determined in the next 18 months, not the next decade.
Last fall, The Hope Group partnered with the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion to launch AI literacy training for local entrepreneurs. I walked into that first session expecting questions about efficiency and automation.
What I encountered was something more valuable: productive anxiety.
Business owners were asking the right questions:
These concerns proved prescient. In our classes, one Dorchester restaurant owner discovered her reservation platform was flagging “no-show risk” based partly on neighborhood data. A retail entrepreneur learned her AI analytics tool lacked context for the cultural spending patterns of her actual customers. Both redesigned their systems before launch.
But here’s what keeps me up at night: How many businesses didn’t catch these issues in time?
This isn’t just an inclusion problem. It’s a precision problem. It’s a profitability problem.
When your AI system overlooks qualified talent from Roxbury or misreads engagement patterns in Mattapan, you’re not just risking reputational harm — you’re losing insight, market share, and trust. Often invisibly, until the damage is done. The costs compound quickly: failed hires, alienated customers, regulatory scrutiny, and competitive disadvantage.
On an AI panel at the Boston Globe Summit this past November, I shared a sentiment that struck a chord with many:
The soul of a city isn’t found in its servers — it’s found in how we use them to serve.
This isn’t just a memorable line. It’s a competitive strategy.
Boston’s business community is uniquely positioned to lead on ethical AI. Our concentration of universities, hospitals, and startups creates an ecosystem where technical excellence and social impact have always intersected — from medical breakthroughs at Mass General Brigham to educational innovation at MIT to community-driven tech initiatives citywide.
As a technologist and minister, I come to this work from an uncommon vantage point. I’ve built systems and I’ve witnessed the human cost when systems fail. I founded The Hope Group because AI implementation forces us to answer questions technology alone cannot resolve: Who deserves opportunity? What counts as fairness? What does dignity look like in code?
These aren’t abstract philosophical exercises. These are business decisions being made right now that will compound for years.
That foundation matters because Boston has both the moral clarity and the practical capacity to get this right.
Whether you’re a startup or a multinational, here’s what you can do right now:
Small business owners: Join the next AI Literacy Cohort with the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, launching this spring. Gain the skills to assess, question, and deploy AI tools that reflect your values and serve your customers with dignity. This isn’t about slowing down — it’s about accelerating in the right direction.
Corporate leaders: Many of you are already asking: how do we audit systems we adopted quickly? Focused system assessments take 4-6 weeks and can prevent years of costly correction. Over 30 Boston businesses have already begun this work. Early assessment prevents the expensive remediation that comes after problems surface publicly.
For all Chamber members — I’m proposing a pilot: Working with a cohort of Chamber member businesses to conduct rapid AI ethics assessments. Not lengthy engagements, but focused, practical audits that answer the questions you need answered: Are your systems fair? Are they precise? Are they serving the Boston you claim to serve?
We would document what we learn, share the framework, and create a model other cities can follow. The goal is to establish Boston as the city that figured out how to do AI implementation right — not just fast, but right.
Because the companies that lead on AI ethics today will define the market tomorrow. Early movers gain three critical advantages: brand trust that actually means something, talent that chooses to stay, and protection as regulatory frameworks inevitably tighten. The EU AI Act is already setting international precedent. Federal compliance is coming.
Boston has always been the city that does innovation right. This is our moment to prove it again — not in five years, but now.
Founder,
The Hope Group and The Loop Lab,
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