DyslexAI campaign asks workplaces to innovate with Dyslexic Thinkers

Sir Sir Richard has joined forces with charity Made By Dyslexia to promote the potential of dyslexic people in the workplace. The new campaign has been created by FCB Inferno.

The rise of AI is truly remarkable. But while it can be a useful tool to move businesses forward, there is another tool out there that can innovate in a way AI can’t: Dyslexic Thinking.

That’s why Sir Richard Branson, Virgin, and Made By Dyslexia have launched a campaign that shows AI being asked to think like famous Dyslexic Thinkers to try to recreate some of their most incredible accomplishments. The results, pulled from AI tools DALL:E, Midjourney and ChatGBT, speak for themselves, producing pieces that, while interesting, don’t display the insight and innovation of the ones created by Dyslexic Thinking.

Whether inventing the car (“Invent a faster horse”) or a certain famous mouse (“Imagine a cartoon mouse with red shorts and yellow shoes”) – if it was leX to computers alone, we could have ended up with something very different.

The film ends with Sir Richard showing that, whilst AI advice on how to scale a record business is accurate and insightful, his more intuitive and entrepreneurial strategy of extending the Virgin Record brand to cover airlines too is not a solution AI could have reached — but a Dyslexic Thinker did.

With a guerrilla-style campaign launch touching both New York and London, including TFL digital and screen takeovers at Virgin Money stores and Virgin Active gyms across the UK, the campaign leads viewers to information about how to empower Dyslexic Thinkers in the workplace.

The campaign builds on the success of the 2022 campaign which saw Richard Branson and Made By Dyslexia collaborate with Global partners to recognise Dyslexic Thinking, adding it as an official drop- down skill on the LinkedIn business platform, and an official term on Dictionary.com. Over 10,000 individuals added the skill to their profile within a week of launch, which continues to grow daily, and received the Titanium Lion at Cannes for ‘Game-changing creativity’.

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Founder said: “AI is already transforming the way we work, live, and interact. Used in the right way, AI is the perfect co-pilot for people with Dyslexic Thinking skills to move the world forward. But technology can’t replicate the spontaneous, human, creative instinct that can lead to incredible innovation. Dyslexics have the limitless power to change the world if everyone embraces their dyslexic minds.”

Made By Dyslexia’s global mission is to empower Dyslexic Thinking in every workplace because Dyslexic Thinkers have the exact skills that can and will move businesses forward now and in the future.

In addition to the DyslexAI campaign, the charity is also calling upon companies to commit to enroll in a brand new, free-to-access, workplace training course set to launch on LinkedIn Learning later this year. Designed by experts at Made By Dyslexia, the course will educate on how to understand, support, and empower Dyslexic Thinking in the workplace, and ensure that companies are future- ready.

A number of organisations including companies across the Virgin Group, MicrosoX, Randstad, and EY have already committed to enrolling all people leaders in the course when it launches. Made By Dyslexia is calling on companies across the world to do the same online at madebydyslexia.org

Kate Griggs, CEO & Founder of Made By Dyslexia comments, “Research has been telling us that Dyslexic Thinking skills will be vital for future workplaces, and with the rapid advancement and adoption of AI, that future has arrived. Because while technology and AI have evolved to take over many skills, they can't replace sought-after soft skills like innovation, lateral thinking, complex problem solving, and interpersonal skills, which are Dyslexic Thinking skills.

New research shows that AI is the perfect partner for Dyslexic Thinking, and together they are the unstoppable force every workplace needs to drive their business forward. Our new training will help every business empower Dyslexic Thinking.