What is AI4PI?

What is AI4PI?

Definition Why AI4PI Who it’s for What’s different Framework How it works Outcomes Ethics & Governance Get involved FAQs Contact

Artificial Intelligence for Performance Improvement (AI4PI) is ISPI's ground-breaking initiative that equips professionals to use AI responsibly, ethically, and effectively to improve human performance. It combines a clear framework for responsible adoption, practical tools and learning to apply AI in real work, and professional recognition for demonstrated capability.

AI4PI is not a technology program. It is a human-centered initiative that equips performance improvement professionals to use AI responsibly as an intervention tool. The focus is on applying AI to enhance human performance, decision-making, and organizational results—while keeping ethics, oversight, and uniquely human skills at the center.

Why AI4PI? What problem does it solve?

Organizations are racing to adopt AI but often struggle with unclear problem fit, ethical and compliance risks, low transfer to practice, and weak evidence of value. Organizations need approaches that deliver impact without compromising people, data, or equity. AI4PI equips practitioners with structure, tools, and examples so they can make better decisions, save time, and demonstrate measurable results.

Repeatable method: Evaluate readiness, design human-centered solutions, and implement with guardrails.
Evidence of impact: Define baselines and success criteria; measure and communicate results.
Trust and safety: Ethics and governance embedded from day one.

Who is AI4PI for?

AI4PI is not just for performance improvement professionals! It can be used in numerous fields and professions.

Performance improvement practitioners (internal/external)
L&D, OD, talent, and HRD leaders
Operations leaders and program managers
Students and academics in performance and learning design
Anyone accountable for ethical, effective outcomes

What makes AI4PI different?

AI4PI is not about learning a new AI Tool. Instead, it is a human-centered initiative designed to empower performance improvement (PI) professionals to integrate AI responsibly into their practice.

Human-centered by design: AI augments people; it doesn’t replace them.
Evidence-driven: Impact is planned, measured, and communicated.
Ethics & governance embedded: Risk is addressed from the start.

Practical, not theoretical: Tools, examples, and a project pathway.
Recognition that matters: Credential signals applied capability.

At its core, AI4PI is about preparing PI professionals to lead with confidence in an AI-enabled world, ensuring measurable results and sustainable impact.

The AI4PI Framework

The framework has four guiding principles and six process steps—a practical roadmap from opportunity to impact that ensures AI enhances, not replaces, human capability.

Four Guiding Principles

Human oversight — clarify roles and escalation paths; AI supports human judgment.
Data integrity & privacy — protect data, consent, security, and lineage.
Bias awareness & fairness — measure disparate impact; design mitigations; audit continuously.
Governance & accountability — define decision rights, risk tiers, documentation, and audits.

Six Process Steps

Determine need & readiness — confirm problem fit; set baseline and success criteria.
Design human-centered solutions — map tasks, stakeholders, workflows; plan change.
Develop AI–human interactions — prototype prompts, interfaces, guardrails, feedback loops.
Document accuracy & trustworthiness — data sources, testing, limits, versioning, risks.
Deploy & audit responsibly — pilot with safeguards; monitor quality and equity.
Demonstrate results & impact — compare to baseline; communicate value; plan sustain/scale/retire.

How AI4PI works end-to-end

Pathway

Learn the method (framework, tools, exemplars)
Apply it on a real project (scoped to your context)
Evidence the impact (measures, narrative, artifacts)
Earn recognition (credential signals applied capability)

Programs in the initiative

AI4PI Award — showcases exemplary projects. Learn more →

The AI4PI Award is an award of excellence that recognizes performance improvement project using AI as an intervention.

AI4PI Journey — project-based learning pathway.

The AI4PI Journey is a hands-on professional learning experience that equips performance improvement practitioners to apply artificial intelligence strategically, ethically, and effectively across the full performance improvement process.

Certified AI4PI Technologist certification — recognition for demonstrated capability.

The Certified AI4PI Technologist (CAIT) is a specialized Certification that focuses on the application of AI tools and methods within the Performance Improvement discipline. It validates that a professional can design, implement, and evaluate AI-enabled performance interventions using the AI4PI framework.

What outcomes should you expect?

For professionals

Shared method to evaluate and design AI responsibly
Faster analysis and better decisions
Confidence communicating value and managing risk
Recognition that differentiates your practice

For organizations

Reduced risk and higher trust in AI solutions
Solutions aligned to genuine performance needs
Evidence of outcomes (quality, cost, time, equity, safety)
Repeatable governance for sustain/scale

Example use cases

Learning & enablement

An L&D team uses a generative assistant to draft practice items and feedback aligned to a performance model; SMEs review and approve. Outcome: faster content cycles, better task alignment, documented oversight.

Operations support

A service desk deploys an AI copilot to summarize tickets and suggest next actions; humans confirm before executing. Outcome: reduced handle time, improved first-contact resolution, lower error rates.

Knowledge retrieval

A compliance team implements retrieval-augmented search with approved sources; governance tracks citations and updates. Outcome: fewer policy errors, higher trust, clear audit trail.

Public services

A nonprofit pilots multilingual intake triage with human review. Outcome: equitable access, shorter wait times, transparency about limitations.

Ethics, risk, and governance in AI4PI

Risk tiers & approvals: Different controls for low/medium/high-risk use.
Data & privacy posture: Consent, retention, minimization, and security.
Bias & fairness checks: Assessment pre-deployment; monitoring in production.
Explainability & documentation: Decision logs, known limits, model cards.
Retirement plans: How the system is updated—or shut down—responsibly.

How to get involved

Learn the Framework

Download the overview and share it with your team.

Framework→

FAQs

Is AI required for every performance problem?

No. Step 1 helps you decide when AI is appropriate—and when it isn’t.

Does AI4PI endorse specific tools or vendors?

No. AI4PI focuses on principles, process, and evidence and equips you to select tools that meet your context and governance.

Can smaller teams with limited budgets use AI4PI?

Yes. The framework scales to small pilots. You can demonstrate value with low-cost tools and clear guardrails.

How does the credential work?

Complete the Journey (project-based learning), apply the framework on a real project, submit evidence, and—upon review—earn recognition. Launching soon.

What about legal/regulatory compliance?

Governance and documentation are built into the method. You still align with your organization’s policies and applicable laws.

Contact

Connect with ISPI about AI4PI projects, partnerships, or speaking. Contribute a case study, tool, or research brief to the AI4PI library. Chapters and partners can access promo kits to host local AI4PI events.

Contact ISPI Contribute a Resource