Season 4 Episode 10 The Human Cost of AI: Work, Wellbeing and Connection AI has quickly become a part of everyday life. It’s changing how we work, find information, and solve problems. For many people, it’s also become a place to turn to for advice and support. In this episode of CharityVillage Connects, we look at what that means for our mental health, from chatbot companionship and youth wellbeing to cognitive burnout, as well as the risks of relying too heavily on AI for thinking and creativity. We also ask whether these tools are making work easier or just raising expectations for how much gets done, and what nonprofit leaders can do to use AI without losing the judgment, care, and human connection their work depends on. Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance · Alexandra Samuel, AI and Digital Workplace Expert, Alexandra Samuel · Jason Shim, Chief Digital Officer, Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience · Dr. Olga Morawczynski, Founder and CEO, Heal-3 · Michael Cooper, Vice President of Data and Partnerships, Mental Health Research Canada · Rebecca Shields, President and CEO, Kids Help Phone · Betty Zhang, Head of Innovations and Operations, Kids Help Phone · Meena Das, Founder and CEO, Namaste Data · Donna Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO, Workright Ltd. About your Host Mary Barroll, president of CharityVillage, is an online business executive and lawyer with a background in media, technology and IP law. A former CBC journalist and independent TV producer, in 2013 she was appointed General Counsel & VP Media Affairs at CharityVillage.com, Canada’s largest job portal for charities and not for profits in Canada, and then President in 2021. Mary is also President of sister company, TalentEgg.ca, Canada’s No.1, award-winning job board and online career resource that connects top employers with top students and grads. Additional Resources from this Episode We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list: · Me + Viv (Alexandra Samuel) · Thrive (Heal-3 / Olga Morawczynski) · AI Equity Project (Namaste Data / Meena Das) · Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task (MIT Media Lab, 2025) · AI Readiness: Building Resilience in a Changing Workplace (CharityVillage / WorkRight, 2026) · Leading Change Through AI: The HR and Leadership Playbook (CharityVillage / WorkRight, 2026) · The State of Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Canadian Nonprofits (Imagine Canada / Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience, 2026) · 7 Tenets of Human-Centric AI (Meena Das, 2022) Learn more and listen to the full interviews with the guests here. #podcast #charity