The Humanity Code: Teaching AI What Matters Most with Heidi Lorenzen
January 8, 2026
What if the most important leadership decision you make this year isn’t about strategy or efficiency but about what kind of future your organization is quietly training AI to create?
On this episode of Humanity at Scale, host Bruce Temkin sits down with Heidi Lorenzen, Chief Content Officer at e.Republic and founder and executive producer of The Humanity Code, to explore why AI is less about innovation and more about stewardship. Drawing on her 35-year career across global tech companies and her work at Singularity University, Heidi explains how everyday leadership choices shape the systems influencing billions, and why leaders need to reclaim their role as intentional shapers of technology, not just users of it. This conversation challenges us to slow down, rethink impact, and lead with humanity while the window to influence AI is still open.
What if the most important question leaders ask about AI isn’t “How fast can we use it?” but “What future are we training it to build?”
On this episode of Humanity at Scale, host Bruce Temkin sits down with Heidi Lorenzen, Chief Content Officer at e.Republic and founder and executive producer of The Humanity Code, a documentary and global impact campaign focused on aligning AI with humanity’s highest values.
With a career spanning Polycom, Autonomy, BusinessWeek, and years helping executives understand exponential technology at Singularity University, Heidi has seen firsthand how technology scales faster than leadership, governance, and reflection. She argues that AI doesn’t create our values, it amplifies them and leaders are already shaping AI far more than they realize through their daily choices, incentives, and behaviors.
This is not a conversation about hype or fear. It’s about stewardship, responsibility, and agency during a pivotal moment in history and how leaders can ensure AI helps us build the kind of society we actually want.
What you will learn:
Why AI is less about efficiency and more about intentional stewardship- How everyday leadership choices quietly “train” AI at global scale
- Why technology amplifies existing values instead of fixing broken systems
- How to shift from “What can we automate?” to “What are we trying to create?”
- Practical steps leaders can take to keep human judgment at the center
- Why embracing adaptability is now a foundational leadership skill
- How using AI to elevate people not replace them drives greater impact and performance
- Why this moment forces leaders to confront long-avoided questions about humanity, purpose, and values
About Heidi Lorenzen
Heidi Lorenzen is Chief Content Officer at e.Republic and the founder and executive producer of The Humanity Code, a documentary film and impact initiative dedicated to ensuring humanity’s core values are intentionally embedded into AI and emerging technologies. Named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology, Heidi brings three decades of leadership experience across global technology, communications, and innovation. Her work challenges leaders to see themselves not just as operators of organizations but as stewards helping shape the trajectory of civilization at a moment when our choices matter more than ever.
Episode Resources:
Episode Resources: