About
Human-First AI
Build AI that elevates people—not replaces them.
Human-First AI is a practical newsletter for leaders who want measurable ROI from AI without losing what makes teams and institutions distinctly human: judgment, ethics, context, and care.
Each issue cuts through hype with clear playbooks, decision frameworks, and case studies—especially from high-stakes and regulated environments—so you can ship systems that are safe, explainable, and actually used.
What this newsletter stands for
Problem-first, not tech-first. Start with real workflow pain, then choose the smallest viable AI.
Human Margin. Identify the irreducibly human capabilities that make AI better—and design around them.
Explainable by default. If you can’t explain it, you can’t deploy it (or defend it).
System > demo. Sustainable ROI comes from operating models, not one-off pilots.
Who this is for
Executives & product leaders across industries turning AI strategy into outcomes (not slideware).
Operations, risk/compliance, and legal leaders who need reliability, safety, and auditability.
Technology & data leaders (CTOs, heads of data/ML, engineering managers) shipping AI responsibly at scale.
Customer, marketing, and service leaders applying AI to journeys, support, and growth.
Builders—PMs, TPMs, engineers, analysts—at startups and enterprises who want frameworks that move from whiteboard to production.
What you’ll learn here
Strategy & governance: Designing AI operating models that scale (funding, ownership, risk gates, evaluation).
Opportunity design: Finding “fast, safe, valuable” use cases; success metrics leaders will sign.
Context engineering: Turning messy org data into decision-quality context for models and agents.
Workflow & agents: What to automate, where to keep humans in the loop, and how to earn trust.
Safety & adoption: Explainability patterns, privacy-by-design, and change management that sticks.
Field-tested cases: Document/knowledge summarization, expertise routing, schedule-aware assistants, customer-support copilots, and more.
Plus: periodic essays on the attention economy and platform design, and how to wield practical mental models (maps, feedback loops, incentive design, risk trade-offs) to make better AI decisions.
Deep Dives
Most weeks you’ll get an actionable essay or playbook. Regular Deep Dives go long on one topic—complete with diagrams, checklists, evaluation rubrics, and ready-to-use templates.
What do you get when you subscribe?
Free subscribers
Actionable essays and select deep dives
Access to public archives
Commenting & community discussions
Paid subscribers
Full access to every post and the complete archive
All Deep Dives (playbooks, checklists, templates)
Subscriber-only case studies from complex, regulated environments
Priority Q&A and occasional live sessions
Group subscriptions: 2+ seats receive 20% off
Why trust this newsletter?
About Svetlana Makarova
I’m the Principal AI Consultant and Founder of Spark Change, where I help mid- to large-size organizations future-proof with AI—from strategy and opportunity design to capability building, evaluation, and rollout.
Additionally, as a Principal Technical Product Manager inside a leading U.S. healthcare system, I led product strategy for AI embedded in real workflows, worked with enterprise systems and integrations, and partnered across IT, compliance, and operations to move AI from pilot to production. My background spans consumer health initiatives and enterprise platforms, including practice-management and revenue-cycle products.
Beyond building, I teach executives and teams how to adopt AI pragmatically and present at industry venues (including a poster at the American Telehealth Association). I hold extensive training across major EHR platforms, cloud, data analytics, and design.
I write Human-First AI to share what actually works in the messy middle between strategy and production—so you can earn trust, create value, and keep humans at the center.
Editorial promise
No hype, no black boxes. Clear methods, diagrams, and trade-offs.
Action over admiration. Every essay points to concrete choices you can make this week.
Human-first. Tools that amplify judgment, compassion, and expertise—not just throughput.
Join us
Subscribe to get practical, field-tested guidance for building AI that earns trust, delivers ROI, and leaves room for what only humans can do.
Human-First AI — because the future isn’t human or artificial. It’s both, by design.
