When I joined Acclinate, one phrase from our co-founder, Tiffany Whitlow, immediately took root in both my product mind and my heart: “We can only move at the speed of trust.”
That wisdom hit me differently.
As the product lead responsible for shaping digital experiences that serve underrepresented communities, I carry those words with me daily. We're not only building a tech product. We’re building a space where real people, from real communities, can feel seen, heard, and safe—whether they engage with wellness content, tell their health stories, or take the courageous step to learn more about clinical research.
Trust is the very foundation of our product development process at Acclinate. And that principle must hold strong in an age when AI is accelerating faster than ever before.
When AI Enters the Chat in Healthcare
As a product leader in healthcare technology, I’m constantly balancing the evolving needs of our community with the push to innovate. AI has exploded into every conversation. It’s fast. It’s flashy. And it’s everywhere—85% of healthcare leaders are investing or plan on investing in AI.
But it also brings hard questions to the surface:
- How do we integrate AI in ways that honor the trust we’ve worked so hard to earn?
- Where can AI serve as a complement to—not a replacement for—the human connection that defines health and healing?
AI holds immense potential. But if we’re not intentional, it can also erode the very relationships we aim to deepen. And when you’re working with communities that have been historically excluded or mistreated by health systems, the cost of getting it wrong is too high.
Building Trust-Centered Innovation
So, how do we move forward as product teams striving for both innovation and inclusion? At Acclinate, and specifically through our NOWINCLUDED community, we’ve developed an intentional framework for integrating AI in a way that strengthens—not undermines—trust.
Here’s how we’re doing it:
1. AI That Amplifies, Not Replaces
We don’t use AI to speak for our community. Rather, we use it to lift their voices.
In practice, that means developing tools that highlight patterns in the stories people share, or surface trends in community conversations. AI can help us identify common health concerns, recurring questions, or emerging needs more efficiently. All while our members remain empowered to tell their stories.
At its heart, our approach acknowledges that empathy should never be automated. But that doesn’t mean visibility can’t be scaled with human-centered technology. We’re exploring how AI can make it easier for underrepresented voices to be seen, valued, and better understood. Not flattened. Not filtered.
2. Inclusive Healthcare AI, By Design
Inclusion doesn’t happen by accident. Especially not with AI.
We’ve committed to interrogating every AI tool or model we explore. And we start by asking harder questions during the research phase:
- Who trained this model?
- What data was it trained on?
- Who is excluded in that dataset?
Then we pressure-test new tools through the lens of bias, transparency, and representation. If they don’t align with the people we serve, they don't make it into our product. Inclusive design means more than accessibility. It means building with intentional equity—proactively closing the gaps that traditional technology often widens.
3. Community-Centered Feedback Loops
We don’t release AI-driven features without asking our community first, and we don’t stop asking after launch. Every AI touchpoint we consider goes through a feedback loop grounded in three questions:
- Is it helpful?
- Is it respectful?
- Does it enhance understanding, or create a new barrier?
We invite NOWINCLUDED members into our product process early. If a new feature doesn’t build trust, it doesn’t go live. Full stop. Trust isn’t just earned once. It has to be renewed with every interaction, update, and decision.
4. AI for Smarter Development, Not Just Faster Delivery
Yes, AI helps us work faster. But we don’t believe in speed for speed’s sake.
We use AI to support product development—by helping us prototype quicker, identify trends, or generate early ideas. But we still pause. We still test. We still validate. Most importantly, we still listen first.
AI is a tool, and trust is the compass. And if one ever starts pulling us away from the other, we course-correct. Progress doesn’t mean sacrificing intention. In healthcare, where decisions affect people’s bodies and lives, we have a responsibility to move with care.
5. The Future Is Slow… on Purpose
In the race toward innovation, it’s easy to get swept up in acceleration. Faster deployment. Instant insights. Personalized everything.
But when you build for communities that have been ignored, harmed, or erased by health systems, slowness is a virtue. Taking your time means:
- Asking more questions.
- Listening to more stories.
- Reviewing feedback before iterating.
- Choosing accuracy over convenience.
As product leaders, we need to resist the pressure to deliver tech just because it’s trending. Our job isn’t just to build fast—it’s to build right.
What Trust Looks Like in Practice
At Acclinate, trust shows up in how we approach every decision:
- It shows up in how we prioritize transparency when explaining AI-driven recommendations.
- It shows up in how we protect user data and ensure consent is clear and ongoing.
- It shows up in how we design for connection, not just conversion.
This approach isn’t always the fastest route to a flashy product launch. But it is the most enduring.
And in healthcare—especially among Black and Brown communities—durability matters. Because trust broken once is exponentially harder to rebuild.
A Word to Fellow Product Leaders in Health Tech
If you’re also navigating how to integrate AI into your healthcare product, here’s my advice:
Use AI to deepen relationships, not just data points.
Use it to inform decisions, not replace the people they impact.
Use it to reflect the values of your community—not just the ambitions of your roadmap.
Innovation without intention is just noise. Innovation that listens first is how we build something that lasts. It’s how we develop AI-powered products that don’t just work, but resonate. And it's how we move at the speed of trust.
Ready to learn more about Acclinate’s ground-up approach to tech development? Schedule a 1:1 with our team.
