704. How Special Olympics is Using AI + Technology to Scale Belonging - Nathan Cook

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 **Join us at ImpactUp: Story!**  Join us online from 12-1:30 CST for a free virtual session including a keynote with storytelling phenom, Afdhel Aziz, and a roundtable convo with 4 amazing nonprofit leaders. Then that evening, in nearly 50 cities around the world are hosting local meetups to keep the conversation going in person. Find a meetup near you or join us virtually! // **Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.** Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com **Say hi 👋** LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter