“Shaping the Future of AI with Grace”

In a world where conversations about artificial intelligence often swing between fear and hype, AI ethicist and futurist Lisanne Buik advocates for a more balanced dialogue—one rooted in vision, responsibility, and human values. With her initiative Gracious AI, she helps organizations navigate the ethical frontier of technology and imagine a future shaped not by profit or panic, but by purpose.

Lisanne Buik studied International Business Administration and graduated in Business Ethics. She is an AI ethicist, futurist, designer, speaker, and the founder of Gracious AI, a think-and-do tank helping organizations implement artificial intelligence in a responsible, future-oriented way. Her path into the tech world began when, at age 22, she founded VanChefs, an online food startup. Today she is pursuing a PhD at Sapienza Università di Roma, researching ethical AI applied to bio-design.

Conversations about AI often focus on risks and dangers. Why do you emphasize the other side?

“To start with, I actually do both. I never leave people hanging. I help them become aware of both risks and opportunities. Everyone already gets enough doomsday scenarios from Hollywood and the media. What we need are examples of what can go right: AI that reduces food waste, creates sustainable materials, or helps distribute opportunities in education and healthcare more fairly. By making those possibilities visible, we open up space for action.”

‘AI still belongs largely to “gamer boys,” who either glorify it or call it dangerous’

When did this insight first emerge?

“In high school I was already fascinated by algorithmic technologies. They’re elegant and almost invisible, yet often used for unintelligent things like making more money faster.”

“My father is also an ethicist, and at our kitchen table we often discussed what it means to live a good life in a complex world. That shaped my moral compass. While studying business ethics, I realized that technology is never neutral; it always amplifies certain values.”

“The progress we’ve made in wealth, health, and life expectancy is incredible, especially in the Global North, but each solution has also brought new problems.

“I had a boyfriend who was a sustainability entrepreneur with a startup, and I thought: I can do that too. I founded VanChefs, an online marketplace for local, sustainable food experiences from chefs, caterers, and food trucks. That’s how I entered the tech scene, a male-dominated world. My co-founder and I were the only female founders in a building housing forty startups.”

As a woman in tech, you wanted to tell a different story...

“Yes, especially when combined with my ethical perspective. You weren’t always taken seriously, so we had to work extra hard.”

“After VanChefs, I became increasingly interested in AI because I knew it would become immensely powerful. I wanted to understand what intelligence really is – almost on a physics level - and how it could be applied.”

“How can all forms of intelligence be reflected in technology? That became my fascination. Beyond rational intelligence, there is also social, creative, natural, and emotional intelligence. Those qualities – often seen as ‘feminine’ in our culture –are essential to making technology more human and future-proof. That insight clarified my mission.”

How would you describe your mission?

“One key question I ask myself is: how can we design and apply technology so that it serves everyone, both humanity and nature? When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it confirmed an intuition I had years earlier that this would become huge. Yet the public voice on AI still belongs largely to ‘gamer boys,’ who either glorify it or call it dangerous.”

“I want to show, with nuance, that AI has both risks and extraordinary possibilities, if we shape it ethically. For instance, using AI to collect community data to strengthen democracy, or to produce genuinely sustainable materials. Ethics is not a brake on innovation; it’s a way to give direction to it. That’s essential to understand.”

Is your message being heard?

“There’s more openness to ethics in the tech world than ever before, so yes, I’m busy. Through my lectures and consulting work, we help organizations translate their values into clear AI strategies. In the early years, conversations focused mainly on explaining generative AI: What is ChatGPT, and what do you use it for?”

“If your only goal is to make your grocery list more efficiently, that seems like a waste of unparalleled access to intelligence. Of course, each new wave brings new questions. Now I also speak about AI for science, exploring breakthroughs in materials and medicine.”

How do audiences respond to your perspective?

“People often tell me that after my presentation, they’ve taken off their black glasses. The concrete examples I share – how AI can drive innovations that serve people and nature – always resonate deeply.”

“My doctoral research focuses on AI in material design, like creating sustainable textiles from algae-based bioplastics or fabrics that return to the earth as raw material. Such examples help people realize that AI is not just abstract software.

“I often hear, ‘You’ve given me a new perspective,’ or that people feel less afraid of AI because they can see it as a partner to humanity rather than a competitor.”

How do you bring that vision to life in your presentations?

“By conducting deep research with my team and visualizing scenarios, but also through my AI Agent, a digital assistant I sometimes invite on stage. The Agent interacts with the audience, asking questions and gathering data in real time. We then discuss that data together. It makes the session more collective and dynamic. I love learning from my audience; otherwise, speaking becomes one-directional.”

Who typically invites you to speak?

“It’s quite diverse. I’m often invited by government organizations, including municipalities and provinces, marketing conferences, cosmetics brands, universities, and accounting firms. I also speak annually at Dutch Design Week. I especially enjoy working with companies already creating positive impact that want to accelerate that through AI.”

“My message to them is: use AI with vision. Too many organizations apply it only to existing processes, which often amplifies what’s not working. AI is only effective when used with a fresh vision and strategy.”

‘AI is only effective when used with a fresh vision and strategy”

Where will we be five to ten years from now?

“That’s hard to say because AI evolves so fast. I prefer to look at the next two or three years, when major changes will already take place. My goal is to give companies tools and frameworks to embed their ethical values directly into algorithms. Doing so increases brand trust and positions them as organizations that take AI’s risks seriously while embracing its potential.”

“Ethics will increasingly drive the transition toward sustainability. Architects will use AI to design new kinds of buildings with eco-friendly materials. We’ll see breakthroughs in life-extension technologies and optimized preventive healthcare. The possibilities are endless.”

“AI is here to stay. The only option is to embrace it. We’re all at the drawing board of the future and how AI will serve us depends on the choices we make today.”

 

“It moved me deeply that after the AI ethics debate I moderated for the management of DPG and RTL, one of the senior managers – a woman – thanked me for offering a different message about AI, one with more nuance and direction. She also noted that I’d used the word ‘love’ in my presentation. ‘It’s so beautiful that you dare to say that in this world,’ she told me. That touched me in return. It reaffirmed for me just how great the need is for a new kind of conversation about technology – one in which the future of AI is not defined by fear or profit, but by values, vision, and yes, by love.”