Instructor snapshot: Jonas Slaunwhite

Jonas Slaunwhite’s perspective is shaped by years of working with organizations navigating complex technology decisions. As Technology Manager for Data & AI at BDO Canada, Slaunwhite works closely with senior leaders to connect AI initiatives to clear business goals. His Signature Session, Building AI Projects That Deliver, is designed for experienced decision-makers who need AI projects to move beyond experimentation and deliver objective-driven results.

What inspired you to start teaching in addition to your professional work?

Jonas Slaunwhite: My dad was a teacher and a sports coach. I was always interested in teaching and the feeling that it gives me when I see someone else get that “Aha!” moment. 

Then they continue to take that and show other people. I find that really empowering.

What unique experiences do you bring to your Signature Session?

JS: I wear two hats. I have a business background and I have a technology background. I'm showing you how to apply technology to your business strategy.

That methodology relates to who I am as a person and my values. I try to be practical. I want real, tangible things. And that's what I try to deliver to people I work with.

What I like to see us do, and we do it at BDO, is ask, “How do we give the keys back to you?” 

What real-world AI challenges do you help participants tackle?

JS: One challenge is that using AI doesn’t just mean taking ChatGPT’s output and saying, “Well, here’s the answer to the problem.” You actually want to take it a little bit further.

Given my consulting experience, applying things that I’ve learned from working with executives, working with mid-level managers, and even frontline staff, another big challenge is blind trust. People are either completely blind AI adopters or they don’t use it at all.

I really want participants to understand how to apply professional judgment and ask themselves better questions. Does this make sense? Does it fit my objective? What am I missing?

Can you share a memorable experience that shaped how you think about your work?

JS: One particular client of mine was using the cloud, machine learning, and AI before all of the hype we see now. I thought to myself, “Why is this so important? What are they doing?”

That got me very curious. I started to teach myself how to write Python code, write SQL code, and it took me about two to three years of doing my day job but working at night to learn this.

So when generative AI came out, that’s when I got a lightbulb moment. I realized that I didn’t need to know Python in-depth to be able to naturally ask a question in language and get a structured output using a large language model.

I just saw it was going to be very big, and that was where I wanted to focus. I also view it in terms of the fact that a lot of people still don’t trust AI. They don’t understand it, and think, “Why do I want to use this? Why can’t I just stay the same?”

This technology isn’t going back into that bottle. And because I learned in a nontraditional way, focusing a lot of my time and attention on this area, that shaped how I think about responsibility, judgment, and accountability when using these tools.