Dr. Elizabeth M. Adams

EMA Advisory

I work with institutional leaders who are being asked to make AI decisions faster than meaning can form.

My focus is not on implementation. It is on orientation, the capacity to understand where you are before deciding what to do. This work emerges from years spent listening inside institutions as they navigate technological change under public scrutiny, internal constraint, and irreversible stakes.

I developed the concept of void language to name what leaders are sensing but cannot yet articulate: the provisional language that surfaces when structural change is underway but collective interpretive frameworks have not caught up. This concept is formalized in Orientation Under Uncertainty: A Reference Framework for Decision-Makers Navigating AI.

I provide decision-adjacent advisory support to boards, senior executives, foundation officers, and government advisors. It is interpretive guidance for leaders who need to hold ambiguity without rushing to resolution, and who recognize that expertise is not the same as judgment.

I founded the Minnesota Responsible AI Institute to create research and convening infrastructure for Responsible AI and workforce innovation. 

My advisory practice, EMA Advisory, is where I work directly with leaders as they navigate the decisions that will define their institutions for years to come.