At Transforma, our work is grounded in real experience: decades spent inside complex transformations, working with leaders, frontline teams, and systems under pressure. AI can accelerate certain tasks, but it does not create our ideas, frameworks, or recommendations. Those come from human judgment earned through practice. This policy makes clear how AI is used, how it is limited, and how you can be confident in the originality and integrity of our work.

And don’t miss the last paragraph…

A Human-Centered Philosophy

At Transforma, our work begins and ends with human-centered design and judgment. Our ideas come from real transformations we’ve led: messy, high-stakes, human work that no machine can replicate. AI can accelerate parts of our process, but it does not shape our point of view or replace the experience our clients rely on. We use AI as a power tool and a jet pack, not a proxy for expertise.

How We Use AI

We use AI to streamline research, sharpen analysis, and accelerate early drafting where appropriate. This creates value for our customers, allowing us to focus on the most strategic work. But throughout the process, every deliverable is ultimately interpreted, rewritten, and pressure-tested by us. Human oversight, discernment, and accountability are built into our workflow, not bolted on at the end.

How We Don’t Use AI

AI does not create our frameworks, make recommendations, draft client-specific insights, or automate our thinking. We do not outsource strategic guidance or sensitive communications to AI. Anything requiring nuance, judgment, or narrative craftsmanship is handled by humans—period.

Clear, Straightforward Transparency

If AI contributes meaningfully to a deliverable, we tell you how. No obscure footnotes, no hidden authorship. Just simple, honest disclosure about the role AI played.

Privacy, Security & Intellectual Property

We never input confidential or identifying client data into public AI systems. All AI tools we use must meet stringent privacy and security standards. Client information stays protected, and final deliverables remain the client’s intellectual property as defined in our agreements.

Responsible Use & Human Verification

AI outputs are always checked for accuracy, relevance, and strategic clarity by a real human. Just like humans always have, we will sometimes make mistakes, but if something isn’t right, we fix it. Human review is not optional; it’s foundational.

A Note on Em Dashes (Because Someone Had to Say It)

For those convinced that the mere presence of an em dash is proof an AI did the writing—allow us to offer a data point. The Strategy Activation Playbook, published by Transforma founder Aric Wood in 2022 (long before “AI slop” entered the world), contains 563 en and em dashes—nearly three per page—much to the amusement of the copyeditor who circled every one. As Freud might remind us, sometimes an em dash is just an em dash. In our case, it’s simply a long-standing stylistic preference—evidence that the punctuation came from the author, not the algorithm.