Human-Centered AI: Designing Ethical Systems for Trust and Human Agency | Emily Yang

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Aug 26, 2025

Emily Yang, Head of Human-Centered AI and Innovation at Standard Chartered, embeds ethics, governance, and design into enterprise AI. She discusses why AI feels both helpful and unsettling. Topics include consent and data use, how bias is baked into training data, trust between people versus institutions, governance beyond checklists, design that preserves human agency, and the rise of AI stewards.

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INSIGHT

Human Factors Drive AI Success

Human-centered AI requires embedding identity, experience, and flourishing into the AI lifecycle.
Emily Yang emphasizes that ~70% of AI success is human factors, not just technology.

INSIGHT

Models Mirror Society's Biases

Large models mirror societal biases because they train on internet data that reflects human prejudice.
Emily Yang warns that models can perpetuate gender, race, and occupation biases if unchecked.

ADVICE

Regather Consent When Uses Change

Recheck consent when data usage or technology evolves and inform users about new purposes.
Ask and document whether stored data is used for training, validation, retention, deletion, or retrieval rights.

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Emily Yang’s work sits at the intersection of AI ethics, governance, and human experience. She is an early advocate for bringing human-centered design and responsible innovation into the heart of enterprise AI, especially in HR and talent functions. For her, ethics is an activity — something we do, not just something we believe. In this episode, Dart and Emily talk about why AI feels both helpful and destabilizing, how bias and invisible harms emerge, and what it takes to preserve human agency as AI tools shape our work and lives.

Emily Yang is the Head of Human-Centered AI and Innovation at Standard Chartered, where she leads efforts to embed ethics, governance, and design into enterprise AI. She is a global speaker and advisor on responsible AI and human-centered innovation.

In this episode, Dart and Emily discuss:
- How AI is changing the meaning of data consent
- How training data bakes in human bias
- Why checklists aren’t the same as ethics
- Trust between people vs. trust in companies
- How design preserves or erodes human agency
- Why councils alone can’t govern AI responsibly
- Emily’s personal struggle with AI’s big questions
- How generative AI reshapes identity, craft, and trust
- The rise of “AI stewards” in organizations
- And other topics…

Emily Yang is the Head of Human-Centered AI and Innovation at Standard Chartered. She works to bring ethics, governance, and human-centered design into AI, especially in HR and talent. Emily serves on the bank’s Responsible AI Council, Data Ethics Working Group, and GenAI Task Force. She has more than a decade of experience in UX, innovation consulting, corporate venture building, and big tech. Emily began her AI journey researching empathy and emotional intelligence in virtual agents. She is also an advisor to the Centre for Synchronous Leadership’s “Agents of Change” and a frequent global speaker on responsible AI.

Resources Mentioned:
Diaspora, by Greg Egan: https://www.amazon.com/Diaspora-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805424
WFH Episode 11 with Don Norman: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-design-of-everyday-things-design-for-a/id1612743401?i=1000582265202

Connect with Emily:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyyangy/

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.