Episode Details

Meet Nathan Cook 👋 He is the Chief Information and Technology Officer at Special Olympics International, where he is using technology to do something remarkable: help a movement that serves 5 million athletes across 172 countries finally operate as one. He is building a digital center of excellence, co-creating AI tools with athletes, and asking a question that should reshape how every nonprofit thinks about technology: what if we built this with the people we serve, not just for them?

In this episode, you'll hear:

• How Special Olympics went from fragmented, program-by-program systems to a unified digital platform, and what it meant when 50% of athletes could suddenly self-register and own their own information for the first time
• The story of Med Buddy, an AI-powered healthcare assistant that sits in the room with athletes during medical visits to translate, advocate, and improve care for people with intellectual disabilities
• Why AI has an ableism problem: the research Special Olympics has conducted on bias in large language models, and what organizations need to know before AI gets embedded in more decision-making

Episode Highlights:

• Meet Nathan Cook (2:33)
• Nathan's path to this work: programming robots as a kid (3:04)
• Why Special Olympics' fragmented systems were limiting the mission (4:16)
• Technology at scale: how 50% of athletes can now self-register (5:04)
• Building with athletes, not just for them: universal design in action (9:04)
• Meet Med Buddy: AI as a healthcare advocate in the room (13:34)
• Advice for nonprofits hesitant about AI (18:07)
• AI bias and ableism in large language models (22:04)
• A generosity story: a mom who finally talked with her son (25:08)
• One good thing: eat the water beetle (28:03)

Episode Show Notes: https://www.weareforgood.com/episode/704

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