An AI policy tells you what to do, but only a manifesto can help you achieve your goals. Here’s why every organization, and every individual, should have one.
By Ruby Mendelson
Design by Justin Negard
If you work for a company that uses AI, or even one that doesn’t, it’s likely the business has created an AI policy. And as a human living in 2026, it’s also likely you’ve made a few AI rules for yourself. But most big corporations—and most individuals—are overlooking one important component: an AI manifesto. According to our experts, it’s something that anyone using AI should have. What is an AI manifesto, and why do you need one? We can’t wait to teach you.
The difference between a policy and a manifesto
Before we even talk about AI manifestos, let’s discuss their more rigid counterparts: AI policies. “These are typically found in enterprises or organizational settings,” says Jonathan Williams, who has designed instructional videos, interactive e-textbooks, and digital learning activities and now serves as the assistant dean at the School of Information at Pratt Institute. “Think of an AI policy as the guardrails of the organization or business; they’re the when and where AI will be used.”
For example, a business might want their customer service representatives to use AI to help them troubleshoot customers’ problems. Their AI policy controls exactly how AI is used. “Maybe there are specific AI models the business uses,” Williams explains. “AI policies could dictate what types of information can be put in the model. These policies are very much about limiting risk. You don’t want an employee doing something they’re not supposed to.”
However, this de-risking doesn’t cover everything. “These policies were created really quickly in the last couple of years,” explains Williams. “When something’s created quickly, it’s often not super thoughtful or visionary. You’re just trying to respond to the problem in front of you; you’re not really thinking two, three, five years down the line about what AI could become.” Hudson Valley-based Steven Savage, CEO and founder of SAVAGEAI in Manhattan, which provides AI certification courses and training to empower businesses and individuals, agrees. “Policies aren’t really for forward thinking,” he says. “But forward thinking is important for a business to excel or reinvent itself. That is what gets you to the next level.”
That brings us to AI manifestos. If you’ve never heard of an AI manifesto, you’re not alone. A quick Google search yields few results. But, in general, manifestos aren’t a new concept. “They’ve been around for a long time,” Williams explains. “An artist will write a manifesto, or a politician, or the founder of a startup—they’re an ideology that someone believes in, demonstrating how they do work or operate.”
“A manifesto is what you want to accomplish as an organization,” Savage adds. “Sometimes those will come in the form of business objectives. Other times, it’s like a mission statement. For AI, it’s a little more focused. It tells the business’s clients, investors and employees how the business wants to work with AI.”
Let’s return to our earlier example. The business implemented an AI policy telling their representatives to only use their custom AI program for the company’s safety and the representatives’ accuracy; their policy also forbids representatives from entering a customer’s personal data. Their manifesto would tell their representatives what AI should help them achieve, and it might look like this:
Our customer service representatives will use AI to provide each caller with a bespoke experience that helps us stand apart from our competitors. From the initial “hello” until the problem is resolved, the customer will only speak with one person; no “press 1 to speak with customer service” and no elevating a call to a supervisor. Our exclusive AI program will have access to every product detail so representatives can problem-solve any issue a customer has.
Now the employees know exactly what they are working toward. “Having that vision is what allows the rest of the team to understand how they can align goals, objectives and technology stacks so that they can actually accomplish the business’s vision,” Savage explains.
AI manifestos aren’t just for corporate use; they can also benefit you personally. “You need a manifesto as your foundational layer so you don’t run amok with AI and start doing anything and everything with it,” says Alexander Colombo, a technologist who builds websites, software and AI tools for local businesses. Colombo is also the owner of Westchester AI and the founder of ShowFloor AI. “It allows you to stick to your goals and helps someone stay aligned with their personal values and ethical boundaries.”
Whether you realize it or not, you might already have a loose personal manifesto. “You can have an AI manifesto, even if it’s not written,” Williams confirms. “Maybe you’ve just thought, ‘How do I intend to use AI?’ or ‘Where do I hope to integrate it into my daily life, work or play?’” If you have, then you’ve naturally taken that first step to determine what you hope AI will help you accomplish, whether it’s saving time, managing your money or organizing your life.
The benefits of an AI manifesto
An AI manifesto is a really helpful tool for AI beginners. Though it may seem that a policy should be your first step when approaching new technology, Williams explains that manifestos are often an easier place to start. “With emerging technologies, we often don’t know what the guardrails should be until we actually start to experiment and use the tool,” he says. “So if you’re just starting to use AI, it would be very difficult to write an AI policy first. Writing a manifesto about how you hope to use the tool or what areas you want to explore is usually the easier place to start.” Plus, starting with a manifesto will put you a step above most AI users. “If you have a personal AI manifesto,” Williams continues, “you have reflected on how technology integrates into your life—that’s a huge win. It demonstrates that you’re not just using it because everybody is or because it seems like the latest and greatest tech gadget. Of course, that’s reason enough to try out a new technology, but the way you approach it will be very intentional, particularly since there’s a lot of marketing hype about how AI is reshaping the world.”
An AI manifesto can also help you compensate for skills you lack. “I have crippling ADHD,” Colombo admits. “It’s plagued me my entire life. But I can count on AI to really help me. It tells me where I need to go and what paperwork I need to submit; it stays aware of deadlines and helps me with all the administrative tasks that somebody with an ADHD brain just says, ‘Nope, I quit. I’m going to do something else.’” Colombo has customized his AI to send him constant reminders until he completes the task. “But it all starts with that manifesto, that understanding of what I need help with or why I’m going to use it,” he points out. “The AI manifesto allows you to bring everything together, listing your goals and helping you understand exactly how you want AI to help you.”
Manifestos can also be extraordinarily beneficial for businesses. “It gives you a better chance at success than competitors who are just putting AI policies out there,” Savage explains. “Because maybe you jumped right on board with AI and gave everybody ChatGPT, which is great. But did you guide them on how to use it? Did you align it with your company goals? If you didn’t, then not only are you missing an opportunity, but all it takes is that one upstart company that had someone give them the good advice to create a manifesto, and they’ll likely reach their goals first.”
As all of our experts pointed out, this phenomenon repeats itself whenever there is a new technology. Within a few years, the businesses that refused to learn about it are playing catch-up to those that embraced it. “A lot of companies did the same thing with smartphones,” Savage recalls. “They banned them at first and didn’t know how to adopt them. They were concerned about the security risk rather than providing that technology to their employees right away and saying, ‘Here’s the vision; now I’ll find the experts who are going to help me get to the vision.’ That’s what your manifesto is going to do for you.”
Savage points out that once you have a goal, you are more likely to achieve it. “And once you’ve created objectives that outline what’s really important to you,” he says, “you should review them occasionally to evaluate if you’re working toward them.”
Where to exercise caution
While there are many benefits to an AI manifesto, there are a few things to consider when writing yours. “You don’t want your manifesto to be narrow in scope,” Williams warns. “If it’s too limiting, you might end up skipping over an AI feature that could actually be incredibly useful to you. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to continually use the feature, but it’s always nice to try things out and see what’s available.”
And then there’s the cost. “Many of the AI tools offer free tiers,” Williams explains. “But these free tools come with limits. So if you have an AI manifesto that sets a really ambitious project, you need the economic resources to actually implement it.”
Personal manifestos should account for what AI tools you’re using when. For example, Williams cautions individuals against using their company’s AI for personal goals. “Let’s say you want to design a new business app for yourself and then market it to the world, but you’re building it on a corporate AI tool,” he describes. “If you’re using corporate resources to do this, your company might say they actually own the application because you built it on their account.” And while that’s more geared toward your personal AI policy, it factors into what your personal manifesto could include. “If you have access to the tools, you can use them to form your basis of opinion,” he explains. “That will help you understand whether the tool your company is using is good for what you want to do with it.”
Why aren’t more people and businesses writing manifestos?
If manifestos are so great, then why don’t more individuals and businesses use them? “The quick adoption of AI policies has been in response to a business’s potential risks,” Williams explains. “But actually, empowering employees to use AI or setting a corporate direction for how to leverage the new technology? That’s a lot more nuanced. It takes more work to make a manifesto because you have to talk to people, to your communities, and to your customers to develop those. So I think, in time, we’ll start to see more AI manifestoes. It just takes people longer to get there.”
Savage likens a manifesto to a guiding light that gets a business to its destination. “You need a real visionary,” he notes. “And often, executives have more of an executing skill set than a visionary skill set. But I believe all executives can learn how to be a visionary once they understand there’s a skill gap to fill.”
The problem, Savage explains, is that people aren’t taking the time to think things through. “When you stop to ask yourself how AI can really benefit you and your company, then it can really augment the most valuable resource any company has, which is its people.”
How to write your AI manifesto
Now that you’re hopefully convinced you and/or your business need a manifesto, it’s time to write one. The first step is to spend a considerable amount of time thinking about yourself and/or your business. “It comes back to knowing how to ask the right questions,” Colombo says. “I’m sure most people will go right to ChatGPT, but it starts with yourself. Sit down and really think about it, really put it together.” He recommends considering all the reasons you would turn to AI. “For example,” says Williams, “are you trying to save money for a car or a house? If so, part of your manifesto would say, ‘I want to use AI to help me achieve financial wellness.’ That vision statement can help guide the types of questions you pose to an AI model along the way.”
That’s a simple example, but getting there shouldn’t be so easy. In fact, you should feel confident that your manifesto is outlining the right goals and clarifies exactly what you should use AI for. “A personal manifesto can be so many things,” Savage explains. “It’s different per person, just like it would be different per company. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to write it. To me, a manifesto is more about the experience of spending the time to gain that vision.”
Something all of our experts agreed on is that writing your manifesto using AI is not the way to go. “It should really originate from within, or through human-to-human conversations,” Williams advises. “AI is a great brainstorming partner. But depending on the model, sometimes it can overly reinforce user input. So if someone actually has something very troubling in their AI manifesto, an AI model might reinforce that. However, a human-to-human interaction might actually critically challenge or push back on that.”
According to Williams, your “human” doesn’t have to be an AI expert or professional—a friend or colleague will do just fine. But you should find someone who thinks about AI as you do. “Maybe they share some of the same worries or excitement that you do regarding AI,” Williams suggests. “That can actually help you shape your views and how they might appear in a manifesto.” Once you have a vague idea of what you might want to include in your manifesto, start jotting ideas down. “There’s no format,” Williams emphasizes. “It doesn’t have to be a five-paragraph essay. A personal AI manifesto could even be a bulleted list of what you hope to achieve. It doesn’t have to be anything grand or verbose.”
Whether you are writing a corporate manifesto or a personal one, you want to make sure you’ve spent enough time thinking things through. “You’ll need to spend at least eight hours on this, typically within the same week,” Savage recommends. “I would not do it all at once. Spend two hours picking people’s brains, then go through and organize what you discovered. Consider what does and doesn’t matter. Then spend a couple of hours organizing your thoughts.”
Once you think your manifesto is complete, Savage recommends you take another look and consider breaking it down into more tangible outcomes. “You want your goals to be something you could actually accomplish,” he recommends. “And you should never work on too many at once; otherwise, you’ll fail.” When you’re confident it’s complete, there’s one final step: “Send it out for feedback,” Savage says.
If you’re still struggling to start, or if you can’t think of anyone who’d be willing to talk about this, then you can use AI as a brainstorming partner, but limit yourself. “I would not use AI to help me produce the end product,” Savage cautions. “AI doesn’t have the industry knowledge, the experience and the talent. Having that vision for your company belongs to a human.” If you go the AI route, Savage recommends using it like a consultant. Prompt your LLM of choice to interview you before it helps you brainstorm your manifesto. “You could say, for example, ‘I want you to ask me 50 questions so you can really understand me,” Savage suggests. “Then it can help you draft your AI manifesto. You need to give it context. But in the end, you really must have the vision. The final result should come from you.”
Manifestos are living documents
“Every manifesto has a lifespan,” says Williams. “Let’s say I encounter something new that my AI manifesto doesn’t address—I should go back and rethink my vision. Policy revision is a very classic business rule.” But how often should you review your manifesto? Savage says at least four times a year. “Most businesses report major metrics on a quarterly basis,” he notes. “When you review your key performance metrics, take a moment to see if they align with your manifesto.”
And for a personal manifesto? Savage’s advice remains the same. “Four times a year is still a good way to do it,” he says. “Take an hour to think about what you’ve done the last three months and if it aligns with your manifesto.” If you make your manifesto a flexible document, your future self will thank you for it.
When thinking about manifestos, Savage says he’s often reminded of the saying, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Yes, that’s right: as trite as it may sound, your AI manifesto can help you achieve your dreams. So why not start today?
This article was edited by Julie Schwietert Collazo and fact-checked by Isabella Aranda Garcia. The artist used Adobe Creative Suite.
This article was published in the September/October 2026 edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.
Ruby Mendelson
Ruby Mendelson is a recent John Jay High School graduate who will attend Kenyon College in the fall to study creative writing. She loves creating characters and writing her own stories, sometimes working alongside her twin, Maggie. Ruby is also a huge FTC robotics nerd (Go Screwups!) and plays the clarinet. She has two cats, Olive and Goose, whom she’s considering smuggling into college.
Justin is an award-winning designer and photographer. He was the owner and creative director at Future Boy Design, producing work for clients such as National Parks Service, Vintage Cinemas, The Tarrytown Music Hall, and others. His work has appeared in Bloomberg TV, South by Southwest (SXSW), Edible Magazine, Westchester Magazine, Refinery 29, the Art Directors Club, AIGA and more.
Justin is a two-time winner of the International Design Awards, American Photography and Latin America Fotografia. Vice News has called Justin Negard as “one of the best artists working today.”
He is the author of two books, On Design, which discusses principles and the business of design, and Bogotà which is a photographic journey through the Colombian capital.
Additionally, Justin has served as Creative Director at CityMouse Inc., an NYC-based design firm which provides accessible design for people with disabilities, and has been awarded by the City of New York, MIT Media Lab and South By Southwest.
He lives in Katonah with his wonderfully patient wife, son and daughter.
