Meet Matthew Bartlett, our Senior AI Principal at thinkstep-anz.
His career has taken him from publishing and social enterprise to artificial intelligence and university chaplaincy – all driven by a desire to make systems fairer and more sustainable. Whether he’s developing AI tools for public benefit, working in book production, or talking with students about meaning and purpose, Matthew’s work is grounded in curiosity and care for the world we share.
What are your most important work experiences?
- Becoming self-employed, early in my career, was a big turning point for me. It meant taking responsibility for myself and my time, and flexibility to move into new areas of interest. As I grew more experienced I found I could devote more of my money-work time to things that really mattered to me.
- Meeting the book publisher, Roger Steele (of Steele Roberts Aotearoa), who took me on as a sort of contractor-apprentice. I learned about all the different aspects of publishing and continue to help bring books into the world (most recently Sharing the Sun: Empowering small-scale renewable generation in Aotearoa, with the team at the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities).
- In 2017, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai announced their shift from ‘mobile first’ to ‘AI first’. I could see that AI was becoming a hugely dynamic force in the world, and I wanted to see if we could harness some of it for good. So my co-founder Geoffrey Roberts and I set up a social enterprise called Citizen AI, with the mission of ‘Researching, developing & promoting AI systems for public benefit’. Over three years of operation, we developed a suite of legal help chatbots that were used by 60,000+ New Zealanders with tenancy & employment problems.
What does sustainability mean to you?
As a Christian, I’m deeply shaped by the opening line of Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” I feel responsible, as a guest, to do what I can to look after this wonderful place (Wellington, Aotearoa, the world), for its own sake and for the sake of all the other creatures.
What attracted you to thinkstep-anz, and what excites you about being part of the team?
I believe in what I take to be thinkstep-anz’s ‘rational environmentalist’ approach. I see the company supporting real, material, systemic change in Australasian economies, and I’m excited by the idea that my skills can help take that to the next level.
What’s a podcast that’s recently caught your attention, and why?
I’m loving electrification entrepreneur Saul Griffiths’s The Shameless Plug podcast… With my chaplaincy hat on, I also co-host a podcast called The Happy Revolution.
