Michael Whitaker

Husband, father of two, ultimate Frisbee coach, and innovation leader with @ICF - Views expressed are my own.

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

I just launched my first Substack newsletter - "Navigating AI Transitions with Whit". Focus is on helping working parents make informed choices on how AI will impact our work, our kids, and ourselves. Check it out. https://t.co/y9WBxGGsNj

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

@YoMaggieVo Opus 4.6 is impressive. Feedback: I've spent 9+ months helping parents navigate AI's impact on their kids. The gap between what frontier labs offer educators vs what parents need to guide AI use at home is the biggest unaddressed layer I see. Would love to share what I'm learning

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

@mwseibel Much legacy friction in organizations is due to human capacity limits. AI removes many of those constraints. In the Age of AI, leaders need to design friction into systems where "slowness" leads to better outcomes and remove it where it doesn't. https://t.co/2o54Ug6gRb

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Podcast Interview! — Navigating AI: Build Your Parent Playbook https://t.co/DTqFYhsVq3

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

In this week’s episode, I share why this moment can’t wait and how schools can move beyond broad principles into real action https://t.co/oSWophV8XQ

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Wake Up with Whit-Preparing Kids for AI While Protecting Their Developing Minds: Our kids are already using AI to do homework or even as a companion. Most of us are still figuring out how to guide them, but the technology's impact on our kids isn’t waiting for us to catch up

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Schools don’t need another “AI literacy” statement. They need model language.
My latest post shares:
✅ AI Competency Framework (cross-disciplinary + grad option)
✅ AI in Social Emotional Learning (protective, novel, urgent)
Free to copy & adapt https://t.co/92la4ih4AC

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

We don’t need more posts saying schools need AI policies. We need actual text.

I’m not a policy expert, but here’s the draft I shared with my school board: values + instructional. A starting point for others to adapt. What do you like? What's missing?

📄https://t.co/ZVSKyzNYk7

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

This is my opinion piece for my local paper.

[Daily Camera @dailycamera]

BVSD needs a better AI policy. We can all help. (Opinion) https://t.co/67zdSD2wzk

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Here's the full video with my school board experience and how parents can engage with their schools and students in this critical back to school period: https://t.co/RFhn64CY8C

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

If you can’t explain your school’s AI policy in 30 seconds, the time to act is now.
AI use (or misuse) starts on Day 1.
Here’s a clip on why I spoke at my school board meeting and why I’m urging parents, teachers, and administrators to engage now.
#AIinEducation #BackToSchool

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Back to School with AI: The Clarity Crisis https://t.co/hV8jcLqSD3

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

I joined No Brainer: An AI Podcast for Business to discuss AI Integration, Leadership, and the Future of Work https://t.co/yrQ8MYmDPt

[Aaron Levie @levie]

Almost everything about how we’re building enterprise software products is changing right now. For years when you built SaaS products, your entire design focus was how a user would interact with the system to accomplish their task, by themselves or collaboratively.

Now many of the core design challenges are more about how the user will work with AI Agents to do this task. This turns the questions into how the user will setup, deploy, orchestrate, or provide context to AI Agents to execute work, and then review and incorporate their work after.

Does this happen in an existing UI? Do you do this through chat? Is it through task list or queue? Is it through a workflow builder? Do you describe it as an Agent or just productive the specific outcome the customer wants?

You can see the early differences playing out just in the AI coding space right now, where there’s a debate between the IDE, terminal, web UI, or just using slack.

In all cases, one thing that seems to be clear is in many ways, to the user, software directionally gets simpler.

The nobs, toggles, switches, and components needed for people to execute tasks are less necessary in a world of AI Agents. The APIs to these capabilities still matter for the AI Agents to use (so they don’t go away), but they’re primarily leveraged in the background. And when they eventually show up for the user, it’s more for advanced use cases, exception handling, or the review process, as opposed to the common activity.

We’re in easily the most interesting period of software design that we’ve ever been in. We have to design for users as well as autonomous agents at the same time. And we’re only in the beginning phases of what that looks like.

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

The Hidden Risk of AI as First Reader
🚨 We’re in a new phase:
🤖 AI is now the first reader
⚠️ And it can be manipulated
🔗 Read more + 4 ways to stay sharp:
#AI #PromptInjection #AILiteracy https://t.co/UGQuWFaBxY

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Wake Up with Whit: Coffee Talk #2 (https://t.co/zWs4QWKXlL) explores our need to radically rethink how to convey applicant authenticity in selection processes along with recent big moves to shape the future of education with teachers and a mysterious new ChatGPT learning feature

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Shape Your Work with Two Quick AI Moves: AI can help your ideas break through and ask the questions others won't https://t.co/8AuhDIY8Nc #AI #Innovation

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Do we need to assume that we are always "on the record" in our increasingly AI world? Interpersonal dynamics change when we know we are being monitored. How do we capture the value of AI while still preserving human only spaces? View the full video. https://t.co/VKm4Dshbp1 #AI

[Michael Whitaker @Papa_Whit]

Introducing Wake Up with Whit - Quick Coffee Break Conversations to Help You Navigate AI Transitions -- https://t.co/MJzDdi1PGi #AI #Parenting