Catriona Nunn Can AI truly serve society if the average person doesn’t understand how it works? For the founder of Zivo, Dr Ainslie Harris, the answer is a resounding no. With an engineering degree from the University of York, post-graduate degrees, 25 years of international experience, and a passion for community education, she launched Zivo to rescue non-technical adults from the dizzying noise of the AI boom.
By bringing affordable, high-quality AI training straight to local libraries and small businesses, Zivo is equipping everyday people with the tools to advocate for themselves in a digital world. Below, Ainslie shares insights on her entrepreneurial journey, the reality of skill erosion, and why your AI should always be “your buddy, not your boss.”
What did you study, and how did your time at the University shape the path that led to Zivo?
I studied Electronics Engineering with Music Technology Systems. York was everything it said it was in the prospectus, and it still is! A high quality education in a welcoming environment with outstanding teaching quality. Every time I step on campus, I feel a buzz of energy from all the intellect and enthusiasm on campus. I can’t remember ever coming back to campus and not wanting to sign up for another course!
How did York prepare you for launching and leading a company?
An engineering degree is great because it’s not just about solving technology problems or building or inventing things. It’s great training for problem solving and project management and planning, and thinking creatively to solve problems and having to figure out how to move forward when the thing you’re building doesn’t work as expected or it’s not ready on the timeline you had in mind, or a piece of the puzzle is unavailable. That’s real life! Whether it was my degree course, or other learning opportunities like the York Award, York has always placed great importance on students being well-rounded, open-minded, and tenacious. I definitely felt that then, and I still see it today.
My degree also covered subjects including marketing, video production, finance, and entrepreneurship. The well-rounded nature of my course and the learning opportunities available to me outside of the classroom definitely shaped my career and gave me opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else. These are also all skills I’ve used on the job since graduating, and am using every day with Zivo.
Engineers have a heavy course load, labs, homework, and lots of studying to do, so that’s definitely good training for the intensity of starting and leading a company.
What problem did you see in the world that made you feel Zivo needed to exist?
It’s impossible to spend a day, or sometimes even a single hour without hearing about AI. Whether people feel it’s going to save the world or destroy it or something in between, what I was noticing was that lots of people were talking about AI but not understanding what it actually is, what it can and can’t do, how to use it productively, and – most importantly – how to use it safely.
People put a lot of private and confidential information into AI tools without understanding the risks. Or they “vibe code” (use AI tools to build) cool software that’s full of security holes, because most of us didn’t get AI literacy training in school or anywhere else. Companies are spending lots of money on AI just like they did for “digital transformation” 20 years ago, often without understanding what they’re actually investing in or whether it will provide any sort of tangible return on investment. We also hear about staff using AI at work without understanding the business risks, because the company doesn’t actually have any governance policies – or maybe it does, but they weren’t communicated effectively to everyone in the company. People are making really important decisions about technology before they understand the basics of that technology.
Many people are understandably anxious, and feeling like they’re about to be left behind. They’re hearing that their jobs might be eliminated or that they’ll be made redundant if they don’t know how to use AI, or that their government or bank or suchlike is going to use AI in ways that might be biased or unfair or not at all transparent, and they don’t know how to make sense of it all.
There are thousands of courses out there but most are too technical, too expensive, too low quality, or too time-consuming for the average adult. Zivo’s courses are designed specifically for non-technical adults who need to understand the basics quickly, in a way that’s easy to understand and explain to others.
AI literacy can mean many things – how do you define it, and why is it so urgent right now?
No matter what you think about AI, whether you love it or hate it, basic literacy is really important. Knowing what AI is, how it works, and what it can and can’t do means you can feel confident and empowered to express your opinion. You can advocate for yourself, the people you care about, and your community, and you can ask questions, so that hopefully the technology is implemented in a responsible way.
Our governments and the big companies we interact with on a daily basis are already making decisions that affect us for the long term. If we don’t understand what AI is, how can we advocate for ourselves or decide whether we agree or disagree with the policies our elected representatives are making decisions about?
On an everyday level, I think if most people really understood how ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude or any of the other ones work, they’d know how these tools can help, what they definitely shouldn’t use them for, and how to protect their personal and company confidential information; and that they shouldn’t use AI to write a business plan or marketing strategy and think that the AI’s given them 100% valid and correct information.
I see this one a lot, actually – this “workslop” phenomenon where people use AI to produce important documents only to find the documents sound well-written but say nothing of any use to anyone, have serious errors, and actually cause far more unproductive work for people. In the worst cases, workslop can cause financial, legal, and reputational damage.
Where do you think the future of AI is headed?
Truly, I don’t think anyone knows. I worry that too many people at the top of the food chain are diving into AI (or telling all of us to) without understanding the societal implications, and throwing around the term “AI” as a cure for everything that’s inefficient, or as a get rich quick sort of thing. I worry that there’s too much hype and not enough due diligence.
The sums we hear moving between companies are astronomical, and we’ve already heard there isn’t enough water or energy or investment capital on the planet to build all the data centres some companies are saying they intend to build – yet valuations for some of these companies keep increasing. No one’s been able to explain how nations’ economies will function if everyone loses their job to AI. If governments aren’t collecting income tax and no one’s earning money to buy anything, and no one has any actual productive knowledge or skills anymore, how does that work? What happens when the internet goes down or the power goes out and no one can connect to anything?
Also worrying is the increasing amount of fake news created with AI. It’s becoming very difficult to know what’s real and what’s not, especially when so much is consumed on social media platforms.
Safety and fairness need to be top priorities of the companies developing AI. I can’t think of another major technology where the people building it couldn’t explain how it actually worked and why, and openly said there’s a reasonable chance that what they were building would destroy society, the world, or both. We seem to be at an inflection point where we need to decide if ethics, social cohesion, and the human experience matter more than making unimaginable sums of money just for the sake of it.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that there’s a lot of money in AI and companies need to justify their valuations, so it’s in their interests to say their technology’s going to do fantastical things that don’t seem aligned with real-world constraints. I think the countries and companies on the right track today are the ones that decided to figure out reliable low risk use cases for AI, and implement them at scale. It might sound boring, but it’s safe and productive. If we engineer AI to replace us instead of aid us, we’ll lose our knowledge and skills and the things that make up the human experience. Studies have already shown skill erosion is real, and it’s something we should be concerned about. That’s why our courses teach that AI should be your buddy, not your boss, and that it’s important to think critically and keep a human in the loop.
Why did you choose to focus on libraries and community-based education as a starting point?
Libraries offer amazing resources for knowledge and career development, and they have a mandate to do that for free or at very minimal cost. Big companies have lots of money to train their people, but most people don’t work for big companies – they’re small business people or working in jobs that don’t provide training on digital literacy or can’t afford to.
Many courses cost a lot of money that people just don’t have available to spare with the cost of living today. So, while our courses are affordable for anyone buying them directly, by
working through libraries and community organisations, Zivo can educate and empower communities in the most equitable way possible. Our aim is that anyone who needs this knowledge can get it from their local library. We also do corporate, community, and small
business workshops. We’ve come up with a business model where everyone can get this essential knowledge in an efficient and affordable way.
I think many adults also still think of libraries as just books; but today so many libraries offer so much more! Whether it’s using 3D printers, borrowing musical instruments or power tools…libraries are learning hubs that can empower and transform people’s lives.
How would you describe Zivo’s mission in one sentence?
“AI literacy for everyone”
Your courses and workshops are highly rated by CEOs, Chief Librarians, and municipal leaders. What do you think resonates most strongly with leaders?
They’re busy people tasked with leading their organisations, serving their communities, and increasing digital literacy. Not only do they need to decide how they will or won’t use AI from an organizational point of view, they have to deal with questions from community members on all sorts of different topics. It’s not easy to meet all these diverse needs.
AI is something they’ve been hearing about more and more and they know they need to get on top of it, but no one’s sure where to start, which course to do, or what exactly they need to learn to be well-informed in their roles. I faced this exact same situation, and I’ve spent my entire career in tech! My clients and colleagues were in the same situation, so that was a big driver for founding Zivo. I saw the need all around me for the type of courses we offer, and I couldn’t find anyone who was providing them.
People are also short on time and money. Organisational leaders and people serving communities need to gain practical knowledge quickly in a way that’s both affordable and easy to understand. Most people don’t have weeks or months of spare time or thousands of pounds available to spend. They’re not looking to design AI systems or lead an “AI-driven” organisation. They just need to understand the fundamentals, which our courses are specifically designed to do in a time-efficient and cost-effective way.
You’re also working with smaller and rural communities on community-wide literacy initiatives. Why is that work particularly meaningful to you?
There’s lots of opportunity and money and funding in big cities. Smaller communities need access to digital and AI literacy too, whether it’s for personal projects, staying safe online, or helping small businesses understand how new technology might be able to help them. Smaller and remote communities often aren’t on people’s radar because they’re far away or don’t have many residents or have rather small budgets.
These days, many of these small and remote communities have decent internet access which means they have more ways to participate in the wider economy. But without access to basic literacy to understand how to use technology to their advantage, there’s no equality
of opportunity. It’s not enough to just give someone high speed internet access – practical, useful education is absolutely vital.
How does it feel to know learners are engaging with Zivo’s courses not just in Canada, but also in the UK and around the world?
It feels great! We have learners of all ages, from people in their 20s to people over 80 years old, across several countries and from all walks of life. I want Zivo to be available worldwide. We’ll be releasing our courses in both English and French in Canada, and plan to release them in Spanish in due course.
Can you share a story or example of impact that really stands out to you?
We’ve had a few learners who’ve taken our AI Essentials course and said it was able to help them understand how to safely use new AI tools that were introduced in their workplaces. Apparently they’d received very little training from their employers, so took our course because they were worried they didn’t know enough about what they were being asked to use day to day, and how to use it safely. They went from knowing nothing about AI to being the unofficial AI coaches in their organizations! That really showed me that we’re achieving the things we set out to achieve with our courses. It makes me very happy to hear stories about our learners having more confidence and being recognized in their workplaces for their new skills.
You’re expanding across Canada and into the UK. What excites you most about being “on the ground” in those markets?
Making a difference, seeing the difference I’m making, and also understanding the different needs and cultural contexts in different communities. It’s easy to assume that because English is a common official language, everything’s the same. But there are parts of Canada where cultural context is incredibly important, and that’s the same for the UK, USA, and so many other countries too. Sometimes this understanding has more to do with outreach than content, as in, how you actually get knowledge to the people who want it, and make it as relevant as possible to their daily lives. But the opportunity to learn about different communities is something I really enjoy.
What challenges do you anticipate as you grow internationally and how are you preparing for them?
Marketing is going to be very important for Zivo as we expand internationally, and that needs to be tailored to each country we want to grow in. Figuring out how to do that in a cost-effective way that’s appropriate for each country will be an interesting challenge. Understanding how procurement works in different regions is also hard work. Some areas are highly centralised and others are very much not! This is where my engineering brain comes in handy, doing deep research and developing timelines and priorities and efficient ways to tackle this challenge.
What advice would you give to current York students who are curious about entrepreneurship or working in emerging technologies?
York has so many clubs and initiatives and opportunities for people who are curious about innovation and entrepreneurship. If you don’t know where to start, definitely ask around! I’ve met many York students with fantastic ideas, and the university is really keen to help people understand how to write a business plan, a marketing plan, and make their ideas come to life. You never know unless you try! Don’t be afraid of failure. The mistakes we make and the things that don’t work out as planned are some of our biggest learning opportunities, and can lead to paths and adventures we’d never even considered.
Where do you hope Zivo will be in five years’ time?
That’s a great question! I don’t know where AI will be in 5 years’ time, but I’m sure Zivo will be working hard around the world to take complex concepts and translate them into easy to understand short courses so that we all continue to feel empowered and informed and able to advocate for our communities and our future. I hope that we’ll be the trusted household name for accessible, affordable AI literacy worldwide.
If AI literacy became embedded in every community, what would that change about society?
If AI literacy became embedded in every community, I think the people developing the technology, and our governments at all levels, would be required to be more accountable to their citizens and communities. AI has the potential to make such a profound impact on our societies and our ways of life that I believe it’s becoming a part of our civic duty to get informed on AI and how it’s being used in our lives. AI isn’t going away, and there’s a place for it in our society. But we need to ensure it’s developed and used safely, ethically, and responsibly, so that it benefits society as a whole. It’s incredibly difficult to do that without basic literacy.
What does success ultimately look like for you – personally and professionally?
Making a sustainable, meaningful impact over the long term is important to me. I’d be very happy with what I’ve achieved if Zivo is recognized as a global leader in affordable, high quality, accessible AI literacy education (or whatever technology comes next!)
Alumni of the University of York can receive a 10% discount on Zivo’s courses via the York for Life platform
