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 timeThe 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 disabilitiesWhy 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-makingEpisode 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/704Join us at The Spread!Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.Learn more and save your free spot today. //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.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter