AI is reshaping public services, from Medicaid eligibility to behavioral health treatment planning, but the biggest shift isn’t automation. It’s the rising importance of human judgment, governance, and critical thinking in a world flooded with machine-generated information.

In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Connor Norwood, Founder & CEO of Delineate LLC, to explore how government, healthcare systems, and consulting firms are navigating AI adoption while protecting public trust and human responsibility.

Connor brings a rare lens: academic researcher → state CDO → COVID-19 multi-agency data leader → founder. His perspective on AI governance, health workforce shortages, legal liability, and expert-human augmentation is one every tech leader needs to hear.

🔑 Key Themes

- Why critical thinking becomes the most important workforce skill in an AI-first world

- Why AI will replace some jobs, but will create entirely new ones that require reskilling

- How expert-human augmentation can ease the mental health provider shortage

- The hidden risk for companies that “ban AI” but don’t create policies

- Why public sector AI adoption is slowed by outdated statutes and risk-averse incentives

- How AI changes discovery, research, and consulting workflows

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Opening highlight

01:02 — Introduction to Connor Norwood & Delineate

01:58 — From pre-med → academia → state government → data leadership

04:28 — The origins of Delineate & the art of data storytelling

06:39 — Why executives need narrative clarity, not more dashboards

09:44 — What “tuning your message to the audience” really means

10:52 — What Delineate does today (government + sports + healthcare + AI)

12:55 — AI governance: why orgs can’t put their head in the sand

13:03 — Expert human augmentation in healthcare

15:26 — How clinicians perceive AI (and why definitions matter)

18:48 — The fragmented regulatory landscape

21:12 — Government constraints: legacy rules, risk tolerance, budget cycles

23:34 — Why efficiency in public services matters

26:23 — How Delineate uses AI to accelerate research & discovery

28:21 — Are jobs being replaced? Connor’s view on job creation & reskilling

30:38 — Why critical thinking still matters more than ever

31:24 — Legal liability: AI outputs, copyright, and the black box

34:03 — Why proactive guardrails matter

36:17 — Creating realistic AI policies in organizations

36:45 — Connor’s vision for improving public service with AI

38:17 — Where to find Connor

38:33 — Closing

🔗 Resources

Delineate LLC: https://delineateconsulting.com

Connect with Connor: http://www.linkedin.com/in/connorwnorwood

Chris Fanchi / Big North: https://bignorthnetwork.com

📘 Order Chris’s Book — Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work

Available Now!

👉 https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai