Redefining Productivity for Modern Teams
Welcome to AI Responsibly—a newsletter focused on promoting and advancing responsible artificial intelligence. Our goal is to offer business leaders insights and practical guidance for navigating the complex world of AI. Let’s dive in!
Coda and Responsible AI: Redefining Productivity for Modern Teams
Written by Lane Shackleton
In case you missed the news, Grammarly acquired Coda at the start of 2025. Having spent the past nine years leading Coda’s product team, I’m excited to share our vision for the future of work and how our product helps modern teams get things done.
Like most in our industry, we’re observing an incredible shift in the way that people tackle problems at work. AI has quickly become a trusted thought partner, helpful editor, and valuable part of workflows. It’s a dynamic and interesting time as more people are able to use technology in tangible and powerful ways. In many ways, this feels like an extension of Coda’s original mission to enable anyone to build tools and solutions, regardless of their technical skills.
In combining Coda’s leading all-in-one workspace with Grammarly’s trusted AI assistant, I’m thrilled to be at the forefront of creating AI-powered productivity tools that bridge the gap between communication and execution, helping you and your teams do your best work.
A workspace designed to adapt to your team
At the heart of Coda, we’ve created a workspace that blends the best features of documents, spreadsheets, and apps in one place. We get it; using software that doesn’t fit your team’s unique needs and workflows can be painful. That’s why Coda focuses on flexibility—it’s designed to adapt as your team grows, so you’re not constrained by a product with limited use cases.
For over 50,000 teams, Coda is their go-to resource. The product enables people to use a single tool for diverse tasks like planning their teams’ work, tracking projects, keeping 1:1s focused, and crafting company goals. Because we know some other tools are beloved (or entrenched), we’ve also created over 800 Coda Packs that allow teams to easily connect your favorite tools, streamline your processes, or swap out the tools that don’t work for your team. This way, you can focus on what really matters, like speeding up decision-making, planning your next great product, and delivering value to your customers.
Responsible AI = beneficial AI
It’s our responsibility to bring AI into Coda in a beneficial and easy-to-understand way. To me, responsible AI means being a good technology steward and ensuring that AI can truly benefit everyone. Along the way, we’ll need to be open about AI’s quirks and limitations.
Responsible AI and beneficial AI go hand in hand. One example of how we develop beneficial AI is our approach to Coda Brain, where we had to consider how AI is used in the context of teams. Many AI capabilities are inherently single-player, like when you’re chatting with a customer support bot. But Coda is built for teams, so we needed to keep the organizational context in mind and ensure that what you’re creating and sharing is safe and secure.
When we built Coda Brain, we knew it had to understand your company’s data while respecting the complex access controls of hundreds of applications. We built a new system for access controls that ensured personal data access was reflected in the context of a shared team document. That way, you can find, create, and share AI-generated information in a privacy-sensitive way.
Looking ahead: The future of Coda and responsible AI
It’s clear that the way we work together is changing rapidly. At Coda, we’re creating a workspace that flexes and grows with you. And we’ll aim to continue adding and improving AI capabilities responsibly. We want to empower everyone to be a maker via a platform they can trust, no matter their background.
Looking ahead, we see Coda and Grammarly as essential partners in helping users tackle problem-solving and productivity in new and unexpected ways. As a starting point, you’ll be able to access Grammarly’s incredible writing assistance inside of Coda. And soon, we’ll have much more to share. We’re thrilled to shape a future where tech works for everyone in a responsible way.
Industry News
Responsible AI at Grammarly
AI in Action: How Smartsheet Elevated Productivity and Engagement
Global Leadership and Expertise: As CEO, I am a graduate of the IMF, World Bank Group (WBG), and United Nations (UN) University, UN CC, UNITAR, UNDP, and more...From an academic standpoint, I hold a Master of Science in Finance/Management, and, also, an MBA in STEM with Honors and Awards from ONE of the world's TOP Universities. Indeed, I am passionate about upskilling, continuous learning, and traveling across the globe with intellectual curiosity. Boldness in Strategic AI (SAI) Leadership: "Fiscal Policy under mounting uncertainty means government budgets need resilience—particularly in countries whose economic weight makes them influence global trends": by Era Dabla-Norris and Davide Furceri, May 29, 2025. From IMF: " The multi-trillion-dollar Global public debt could increase to 100 percent of global gross domestic product by the end of the decade if current trends continue, according to projections in our latest Fiscal Monitor. The rising ratio of public debt to GDP reflects renewed economic pressures as well as the consequences of pandemic-related fiscal support, according to our report. This trend raises fresh concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability as many countries face rising budget challenges".
The Hallmarks of Successful Leadership in the New Era of AI. My journey as CEO is a significant asset, especially in a dynamic and evolving landscape. I have a strong sense of purpose and direction. Find out how to assess the multi-trillion-dollar global debt, and mitigate risks? My path to global leadership success is crystal clear from an aspiring global leader and potential executive to CEO with a unique combination of emotional intelligence, empathy, acumen, stamina, and hands-on expertise in a world-changing cutting-edge technologies and state-of-the-art ecosystems. I have cultivated a formidable blend of experience, personal attributes, and technical expertise that are indeed highly relevant in today's technologically advanced and rapidly changing global landscape. Advanced Strategic AI (SAI) Models and Metrics: The performance of top executives is measured by a combination of financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs). From IMF: "Debt is Higher and Rising Faster in 80 Percent of Global Economy. Fiscal Policy under mounting uncertainty means government budgets need resilience—particularly in countries whose economic weight makes them influence global trends".
The NEXT Generation of the world's sharpest minds, including talented experts, successful C-suite executives, high-tech savvies, gurus, icons, and stellar leaders across the globe. Are you looking for clarity after turbulent headlines? From geopolitical to macroeconomic challenges and undervalued opportunities to long-term growth trends, we answer the biggest questions driving today’s markets and digital transformation. As CEO, I play my part successfully. I inspire people by fostering a culture of trust and innovation. Indeed, I encourage executives to move beyond conventional thinking. I thrive and succeed in Dynamic Times with confidence, expertise and resilience by harnessing the power of AI while embracing upskilling and continuous learning. As a stellar servant leader, I lead by example with purpose. I apply a strategic "people-first, human-centric, and purpose-driven" approach that clearly aligns with the "Next-Gen Leadership" values and principles. As the UN global climate champion, I’m happy to share that I’ve completed many Certificates of Achievement and Completion. My commitment to upskilling and continuous learning is clearly evident and directly aligns with my ambitious role as a stellar servant leader.
Congrats!
I’m actively learning in this space, but one thing I keep thinking about is when a DNN is supporting a team edit, how does it handle multiple voices? How does it know what to keep, what to blend, and whose tone should lead?