🎧 When institutions embed AI into decision workflows, the primary risk isn't "bad models."

It's governance failure.

In this episode of the Human Signal Failure File, I examine two critical cases:

🚌 Spokane Transit: A navigation system routed a double-decker bus toward a low bridge, shearing off the upper deck and injuring passengers. Routes were vetted on paper, but nobody asked: "What happens when navigation confidently detours a 13.5-foot vehicle toward a 12.5-foot bridge?"

💼 Amazon Hiring Tool: Trained on a male-dominated technical workforce, the AI learned to penalize women. Even after engineers stripped obvious terms, they couldn't guarantee it wasn't reconstructing gender through proxies.

The real thesis:

The hazard of institutional AI is not the widget. It's the workflow.

The defensive move? Treat AI as a workflow design problem:

• ​Run stress tests on safety-critical processes
• ​Build incident playbooks with clear triggers
• ​Create guardrails for when to suspend and audit

AI doesn't just automate decisions. It automates institutional blind spots.

Will leaders build the tests, guardrails, and exit ramps that keep those blind spots from becoming the new normal?

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ABOUT THE HOST

Dr. Tuboise Floyd is the founder of Human Signal, a strategy lab and podcast for people deploying AI inside government agencies, universities, and enterprise systems. A PhD social scientist and former federal contracting strategist, he reverse-engineers system failures and designs AI governance controls that survive real humans, real incentives, and real pressure.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Host & Producer: Dr. Tuboise Floyd

Creative Director: Jeremy Jarvis

Tech Specs:

Recorded with true analog warmth. No artificial polish, no algorithmic smoothing. Just pure signal and real presence for leaders who value authentic sound.

CONNECT

• ​LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tuboise
• ​Email: tuboise@humansignal.io
• ​GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/117dd0d3d

TRANSCRIPT

Full transcript available upon request at support@humansignal.io

TAGS/KEYWORDS

AI Governance, Risk Management, AI Policy, Tech Leadership, Institutional AI, Future of Work, AI Ethics, Governance Failure, Enterprise AI, Government AI, Spokane Transit, Amazon Hiring Bias, Workflow Design

HASHTAGS

#AIGovernance #RiskManagement #AIPolicy #TechLeadership #InstitutionalAI #FutureOfWork #HumanSignal #AIEthics #GovernanceFailure

LEGAL

© 2026 Dr. Tuboise Floyd. All rights reserved.

Content is part of the Presence Signaling Architecture (PSA™) and L.E.A.C. Protocol™.